Who is Afraid of Peter Obi? – By Frank Ofili

I am not a great fan of Peter Obi. I am on record for once describing him as a shop economist. Still, I think he is a far better economist and resource manager than the current managers of our economy.

That said, I am struggling to understand how his donations to worthy causes have become a problem worth visiting with caustic criticisms.

Peter Obi is a private citizen, a businessman; was in business before he even became Anambra State Governor. Has been in business ever since then. By all standards, he is a wealthy man. So how are his donations to various worthy causes a ground for acerbic remarks?

Compared to Madam First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, who between last year and this year, has donated not less than N3 billion to projects that are of interest to her – N1billion to Obafemi Awolowo University, N1billion to victims of Benue attacks and another N1billion to victims of Plateau attacks.

Yet Madam First Lady’s highest achievement (and source of income) is that she is a former Senator and wife of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a position that has no constitutional allocation attached to it.

In some other climes, Madam First Lady’s donations would ordinarily raise eyebrows as to the source of their funding. But this is Nigeria where strange things are any thing but strange.

Do not get me wrong; Madam First Lady’s donations are certainly noble, but what makes the same gesture from Peter Obi worth visiting with criticism? If Madam First Lady’s donations are welcome even without any known source of official funding aside her Renewed Hope Initiative to which, by the way, there has been no known major donor or donation, why can’t Obi’s donations to worthy causes and projects be viewed from the same prism? Why should Obi’s donations always be seen in a negative context by government apologists?

Why is it difficult for us to learn from history? With everything that was thrown at the late Muhammadu Buhari, he still won the Presidential election of 2015 and a reelection in 2019.

President Tinubu himself faced worst criticism in the run up to 2023 Presidential election, but he still won. And trust me, he would win again in 2027, coalition or no coalition. It is the nature of human psychology that the more controversial, the more attractive. It is why a Donald Trump would triumph over a Kamala Harris.

So the joke is on anyone who thinks they are destroying Obi politically by attacking him at every given opportunity. They are simply making the man stronger.