Columnist faults historical claim in pro-Obi social media posts
- A Tribune columnist says a 1951 story used by some Obi supporters is not true.
- He says the five Ibadan lawmakers were elected on the IPP platform, not the NCNC.
- The column also notes Obi has been less visible, including missing a Jos town hall.
A newspaper columnist has pushed back at a historical claim that keeps appearing in social media posts by some supporters of Peter Obi, arguing the story is not supported by the records.
Writing in the Nigerian Tribune, the columnist said the claim concerns the 1951 election in Ibadan and the defection of Yoruba lawmakers that is said to have denied Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe leadership of the Western Region.
He said the five Ibadan legislators at the centre of the story were elected on the platform of the Ibadan Peoples Party, known as Mabolaje, and later aligned with the Action Group. He named them as Chiefs A.M.A. Akinloye, D.T. Akinbiyi, S.O. Lanlehin, Moyosore Aboderin and S.A. Akinyemi.
The columnist said he checked the record in a 1973 book, The Price of Liberty: Personality and Politics in Colonial Nigeria, by K. W. J. Post and G. D. Jenkins, and in Azikiwe's autobiography, My Odyssey.
He argued that Azikiwe's own account described some legislators as members, supporters or sympathisers of the NCNC, and that the categories are not the same thing.
Why it matters
The column lands in the middle of a live argument about Obi's political future. The columnist said the old grievance is being repeated in pro-Obi conversations in the South-West, where he said it gives undecided Yoruba voters reasons to hold back.
He also noted that Obi has been less visible lately. He said a questioner asked him last Friday where Obi was, and that the questioner noted Obi had missed a town hall with stakeholders in Jos, Plateau State, that same Friday. The columnist said he reviewed Obi's recent public engagements and found there had not been much to see.
He quoted a supporter in Ibadan who conceded that Obi may have scaled down his engagements, but insisted the candidate is not tired and will not quit the race.
The column did not say why Obi has been quieter, and there was no statement from him or his campaign in the reports.
Obi ran for president in 2023 and drew large followings, especially among young voters. The columnist wrote about South-East politicians seeking an Igbo presidency now or in the future, and said repeating a discredited account may win applause among the faithful but will not help beyond that.
What happens next
Supporters will keep arguing over the history, and the columnist's point is that the argument is not only about the past. How the story is told in the South-West could shape how many voters listen to Obi outside the South-East.
