Obi, Mustapha, And Adebayo: Wreath for the political triplets, by Prof MK Othman

Deep Thoughts with Othman

Passionate love for Nigeria, capacity, and ability to serve the nation with all their strength and might are the common features of the three political giants making them to be a political triplets. Obi, Mustapha, and Adebayo are presidential candidates of LP, AA, and SDP, respectively. In addition to their passionate love for the country, they are strongly weathering the political tsunami of the 2023 presidential campaign with dexterity, I cannot but salute their courage and audacity. Each of these three, would have been a big catch to the two dominating parties; APC and PDP but shunned them. In the absence of well-known progressives whose voices are no longer loud to provide direction out of the precarious political quagmire, these men, the political triplets are better alternatives to those in the two parties; APC and PDP. These parties were given all the opportunities to right whatever wrongs were perpetrated by the military junta in the past but failed woefully leaving the teeming Nigerians in the worst situation without an iota of hope for the future. What a mess! Now, back to these men, who are they? What are their prospects in 2023? What do they need to do to muscle power from these two parties?

Beginning with the youngest among the three, Mr. Adewole Adebayo was born 51 years ago, precisely, January 8, 1972, in Ondo City, Ondo State. Between 1978 and 1983, he attended St. Stephen Primary School in Ondo. From 1983 to 1989, he attended St. Joseph College in Ondo. From 1991 to 1997, he attended Obafemi Awolowo University, where he earned a law degree. He was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2000 after graduating from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos and passing his bar exams. Adebayo later attended law school in the United States of America, where he passed the New York Bar Exams. Adebayo is licensed to practice in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, California, New York, and federal courts in the United States. He is the owner of KAFTAN TV based in Lagos. Adewole Adebayo is the chairman of Blueprint Global Group in Washington DC. He also serves as the Board Adviser of the National Black Chambers of Commerce of the USA.

Adebayo is a fire-spitting politician on the happening in Nigeria’s leadership failure. He was quoted, “Nigerians are tired of unending insecurity problems, tired of poverty and want, tired of daily threats to Nigeria’s corporate coexistence, tired of non-inclusive governance, tired of policies that exaggerate our differences, tired of the daily emigration of our best brains and our youths to better climes”. He cares deeply about Nigerians and believes that things may improve if the correct leadership is in place.

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha was born on 27th July 1960, after his primary and secondary education, he was admitted into National Defense Academy and was commissioned in 1983. He served the Nigerian Army as an intelligence officer and became the Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, who was Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998. Al-Mustapha is a cat with nine lives, he survived several adversities; 12 years of detention, an accusation of dastardly acts including a coup against the government, and the murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the presumed but undeclared winner of the 1993 presidential election. He faced trials and retrials but was eventually discharged and acquitted of all charges.

Al-Mustapha joined politics in 2017 when he founded the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN). In 2019, he emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) but did not make much impact in the election. Al-Mustapha was not discouraged and was able to clinch the presidential ticket of Action Alliance (AA) on June 8, 2022, for the 2023 general elections. Patriotism and enormous concern to take Nigeria out of the woods are the two forces driving Al-Mustapha into politics. When he is talking about Nigeria, its unlimited natural resources, failure of leadership, and unending developmental challenges, he talks with facts and figures. Surprisingly, no one has ever challenged his statements and vast intelligent information making us believe in what he says.

Peter Gregory Obi was born on July 19, 1961, in Onitsha. He graduated with a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy in 1984 from the University of Nigeria after his basic education.

Obi attended several Business Schools, Lagos, Harvard, and Columbia among other business and management programs within and outside Nigeria. Obi is an interesting politician, a dogged political fighter, and seems to be a committed nationalist. Obi’s victory in the 2003 governorship election of Anambra was awarded to Ngige, which was overturned by the Court of Appeal on March 15, 2006. Obi assumed office on March 17, 2006, but was impeached On Nov. 2, 2006, by the State House of Assembly after seven months in office and was replaced by his deputy Virginia Etiaba. He was re-instated on Feb. 9, 2007, by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu. In April 2007, Obi was removed from office after a new governorship election was held by INEC, but the judiciary intervened again and ruled that he should be allowed to complete a full four-year term. In 2010, he won re-election for a second term in office. Obi became an advocate for good governance after leaving office in 2014, leading to his defection to the PDP from APGA. He was Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2019 election and was among the PDP’s top presidential aspirants but defected to the Labour Party (LP). In LP, three other contestants -Prof. Pat Utomi, Mr. Joseph Faduri, and Mrs. Olubusola Tella stepped down for him to clinch the ticket. Obi seems to know the solution to Nigeria’s problems; his head is full of statistics and churns them out when he talks. Although, some people are doubting the accuracy of his statistics. Nevertheless, he is working hard to win the 2023 presidential election.

These men alongside other presidential candidates may find it difficult, if not impossible to unseat the candidates of the two major parties; APC and PDP in the 2023 election. The reasons are obvious; lack of spread to cover all nooks and crannies of Nigeria, politics has become a business venture driven by money bags, and the two parties are in the lead, lack of political ideology, poor accountability, and low electorate political education. The multiple defects of the Nigerian constitution caused these problems thereby robbing Nigerians of their democratic rights to choose the best as their leader. For now, we may choose whom we want but the real contest is between the two candidates; APC and PDP.

It is high time for the progressives to come together, unite and wrestle power from the current power holders and chart a new path for the survival of Nigeria and arrest the rot. While we ponder on how to unite the progressives, here is the wreath for the political triplets.

Professor Othman is the Executive Director of National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), ABU Zaria.

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