By Sam Omatsaye I Tuesday, January 14, 2025
LAGOS, Nigeria – In 1993, Peter Obi was a protégé of Arthur Nzeribe in the Association for a Better Nigeria (ABN).
They secured a midnight court injunction that nullified MKO Abiola’s presidency. Obi personally delivered the court verdict to Nwosu and stopped the further announcement of the election results.
This ultimately led to IBB stepping aside for Shonekan in an arrangement with Abacha. Abacha became Head of State and expectedly did not forget Peter Obi’s role ⁹ìin his ascension to power.
As a reward, he tasked Obi with decongesting the Tin Can Island, where Obi made billions of Naira and subsequently became Chairman of Fidelity Bank.
Peter Obi reciprocated by joining others to convince Abacha to transform from a military leader to a civilian president. His main contribution was bankrolling the formation of a youth group called YEAA (Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha) headed by Daniel Kanu.
The Group introduced the “One Million Man March” as a political campaign strategy in Nigeria. Peter Obi later adopted this strategy at the beginning of his presidential campaign in 2022. The Abacha project came to an end with the death of Abacha.
In 1998, when the ban on politics was lifted, Peter Obi became a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
This is the point that most people know as the beginning of the political journey of Peter Obi. History will not forget every role played by any human being. No be me ooooo; na copy and paste I do ooooooo.
Unfortunately, many of our youths shouting on social media today do not know the troubles we elders faced as a result of the annulment of the freest and fairest election ever conducted in Nigeria.
NB: Opinion expressed here are strictly that of the author.
