By Frank Apokwu SR
Tola Richman’s attack on Peter Obi is not political analysis; it is a theatrical blend of exaggeration, selective history, and emotional rhetoric masquerading as insight.
To hear Tola tell it, Peter Obi is a man eternally fleeing contests. Yet the historical record stubbornly says otherwise.
This is a politician who contested for the governorship of Anambra State, was rigged out, and spent years in court before reclaiming his mandate through judicial process. A man allergic to electoral contest does not endure prolonged legal and political warfare merely to defend the sanctity of votes. One may disagree with Obi politically, but rewriting history cannot substitute for argument.
The attempt to associate every political relationship Obi ever had with “anti-democratic ambition” also collapses under scrutiny. Nigerian politics, from the First Republic to the present Fourth Republic, has always involved negotiations, alliances, endorsements, and elite consensus-building. If political selection by influence automatically invalidates democratic legitimacy, then nearly every major political figure in Nigeria would stand condemned.
More interesting, however, is the contradiction at the heart of Tola’s thesis. Obi is simultaneously portrayed as politically timid and yet politically dangerous enough to warrant relentless attacks years before the next presidential election. If he truly fears contests, why does his mere presence unsettle so many entrenched interests?
The comparison to Donald Trump carrying Obi “like a baby” to Aso Rock may generate laughter on Facebook, but it contributes little to serious democratic discourse. Democracies are not strengthened by mockery disguised as philosophy. They are strengthened by issue-based engagement: economy, governance, corruption, security, institutions, and national cohesion.
And then comes the question Tola never answers: if Peter Obi supposedly “hates elections,” why has he repeatedly subjected himself to the uncertainty of the ballot box in one of the harshest political terrains in the world?
Politics is not Sunday school. Coalition-building is not cowardice. Negotiation is not fear. Strategic alignment is not timidity. Every successful politician in modern democracy — from America to Nigeria — has relied on alliances and consensus structures.
Ultimately, Nigerian politics remains profoundly unpredictable. Yesterday’s outsider becomes tomorrow’s frontrunner. Yesterday’s ridicule becomes tomorrow’s regret. The same political establishment that mocked Obi in 2022 watched him reshape national political conversations within months.
One may oppose Peter Obi. That is democracy. But opposition should rest on facts, not folklore; argument, not caricature.
Nigeria deserves better than politics of sneers.
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