By Reno Omokri
(Flowerbudnews): In 1978, there were frantic meetings between Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria, and Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian Peoples Party. As the August 11, 1979 approached, Chief Awolowo explained to the NPP that if he and Owelle Azikiwe contested, they would split the Southern vote and hand victory to Malam Shehu Shagari.
He thereafter argued that of the two of them, he stood a greater chance of winning the election, since he would get the Western Nigeria vote, the Midwest vote and some of the minority Eastern Nigeria votes.
Chief Awolowo further explained to the NPP apparatchiks that because Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria had chosen an Igbo man, Chief Alex Ekwueme, they would split the Igbo vote and win, unless Azikiwe united with Awolowo, especially as there was a Naka Sai Naka revolution in Northern Nigeria.
Of course, Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NPP did not listen and contested the August 11, 1979 election, having been assured by prominent Northerners that he would get massive votes in the North.
The election came, and Malam Shehu Shagari scored 5,688,857 votes, and Chief Awolowo got 4,916,551 votes, leaving Owelle Azikiwe with a paltry 2,822,523.
The primary reason for Shagari’s victory was the votes he picked up from the Igbo states of Anambra and Imo and the then Rivers state, where Shagari polled 72.65% of the votes.
As predicted by Chief Awolowo, Chief Azikiwe had no path to victory and only served to divide the Southern votes.
Now, fast forward to 2022. Peter Obi called me to ask for my support, and I explained my position to him. I then followed it up with an article in my ThisDay column explaining that Peter Obi had no path to victory whatsoever. It was never going to happen.
I explained that the only purpose Peter Obi would serve would be to divide the votes the Peoples Democratic Party would have got. And by so doing, hand over a victory that the All Progressives Congress would not have had but for him.
It was obvious to most discerning pundits that both the men luring him away from the PDP, as well as the money they were funnelling to him, probably came from those who did not want Waziri Atiku to win.
He did not listen. He contested the February 25, 2023 election. Bola Tinubu was declared the winner with 8,794,726 votes. Waziri Atiku Abubakar came second with 6,984,520 votes. Peter Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.
If Obi had not contested, Waziri Atiku would undoubtedly have won that election hands down, even with rigging, because. Please fact-check me: the Peoples Democratic Party has won in every state of the Southeast in every election since 1999.
If Peter Obi had not contested in 2023, the PDP would still have won in the Southeastern states during the #NigerianElections2023 and Waziri Atiku would have amassed at least above the 11,262,978 votes he scored in 2019.
Bola Tinubu did not defeat Waziri Atiku Abubakar. Peter Obi defeated Waziri Atiku.
History does not repeat itself. Men repeat history and blame history for repeating itself. And it is inevitable that if we do not learn anything from the history of the 2023 election, we will repeat it. (Flowerbudnews)
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Globetrotter. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.
