He is responding to the column that was published on this page on August 28.

It used a story about students’ breakfast preferences (many objected to akara and pap) to illustrate how a divided opposition can lose out to an unpopular minority.

You can access this column via the Vanguard website.

Dear Donu, 

I am awash with much overdue praise for you and your impactful presence on the Niger Delta struggle vis-a-viz the quest for a new Nigeria.

I am obliged to make my debut entry into the Nigerian discuss after reading your pathetic Akara and Pap Rodeo.  

Kudos to you once again as I state my case. Our democratic experiment which we call Nigeria is not yet ready for the kind of elitist view that Peter Obi represents. My apologies to the Obidients! We still prioritise wealth over will just as much as we break all rules of social order and will never support anything that does not offer immediate gratification. Mark my words! The 2027 election is already on, provided you have an ‘NIN’ to go along with your account details. The kind of wallet Nigerians are asking for, Peter Obi cannot yet muster. 

Even Atiku wants to spray money on Nigerians without the courtesy of a smile.

These things don’t work like that in our “Nigerian Zoo”, where even the Hyena would fake civility until it has swallowed its prey hook, line and sinker. Let’s not forget the Legendary Fela Anikulapokuti too soon: “we are all suffering and yet smiling”. Our brand of politics calls for a winner takes it all. We have seen where American Judges call the bluffs of Presidents. This is not possible in NAIJA. Tinubu is simply impossible, we know, but the country and its pettiness in matters that border on religion and ethnicity has made the journey to the top for Obi and Atiku a very lonely one, even though their candidature cannot be entirely ruled out. 

“Emi lo kan” proved us all wrong (myself included) when he snubbed the arguments against the Muslim – Muslim ticket. This man seems to understand Nigeria and Nigerians. 

The carrot and the stick is the way to go(at least Mr. Vice has his own testimonies), and he is still pulling through because greed and avarice is our National Anthem whether be it in the pulpit or the pew. I shall give you another instance.

 The sort of wealth and level of audacity and arrogance displayed by the Jagaban so far is nothing but unprecedented. Tinubu did everything all by himself almost without help and even brags about it. Obi cannot muster the financial wherewithal necessary for the kind of electoral madness obtainable and in open display in this paranoia state we call Nigeria. 

Peter Obi, other than the Ndigbo factor, thinks like a puritan, a member of some sort of an elite caucus; for though he has the carriage, charisma and followership, the level of awareness and grassroot mobilization plus a think-tank PURSE reminiscent of what was obtainable for him before the currency withdrawal and swap which eventually nailed the coffin of his fundraising prior to the 2023 general elections, which is now needed for him to succeed, has not yet been assembled. 

To rule Nigeria, you must learn to dance “surugede – the macabre dance of the gods”, which by all indications appears to be alien to the Obi camp (apologies please). 

If we must crown Obi President, you will require door to door evangelism, an enlightenment campaign without boundaries and here lies the uphill task facing the Obidient train because I can assure you that even this, as far as Nigeria is concerned, is not free, but seriously capital intensive. And again who will foot this bill. 

The success of the “Personae” called Peter Obi will require that we go back to the classroom, back to the basics. The entire country all at once has to be fed up with the ‘locus standi’ to borrow a leaf from my brothers in the legal parlance, but this is not yet the case because there is still no rallying point or genuine consensus among Nigerians on what must remain and that which must go. 

Akara and pap will go on winning because we still have too many indices combined with a floating decimal, permit me to parade the lexical jargon licensed only to mathematicians. In my view, we are not yet ready, this is why we can afford to take divergent standpoints at every turn when it comes to very pressing national debate. 

The major Achilles heel for Obi is not the Igbo factor but the big elephant in the room called “Ohaneze Ndigbo”. Up till date, the best Ohaneze could offer is “every Igbo person is free to contest 2027 presidency!” Bottom-line, they are saying “WE DON’T CARE”. What a sham which we call NIGERIA. TINUBU IS BOTH OUR SAINT AS WELL AS OUR SHAME. As it stands, the effigy that “BAT” presents is the true picture of the entire nation. If I cannot teach my children at home to do right no matter the cost and if my wards cannot see me suffer for doing that which is right, then it doesn’t matter what I preach; we cannot help but to go with the leviathan which we are content to call “Emi lo kon”. Jagaban is not the problem of Nigeria, I can assure you. 

In fact, he thinks himself more of a saviour or much rather the proverbial king Solomon that has now come to judgement. The situation here is akin to General Obasanjo’s timely re-entry into the Nigerian political space – a matter of convenience as against conscience. This struggle against Jagaban is sincerely not healthy because of the timing as it will only muddle the waters and divide us much further down the middle. We must find a way to focus our governments, be it the PDP, APC, or ADC, both beauty and the beast towards proper education (the just concluded WASC 2024/2025 Result is a case in point). 

We must insist that they GIVE US BACK the free primary education for all Nigerians that AWOLOWO of blessed memory gave to the West and you leave the REST. In all, let all those who wish to demand equity from this reckless regime, first come with clean hands. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.  

FROM TEMISAN REN ABILOYE COLLINS Iyara, Warri(08147469295).