Supporters of the controversial flagbearer of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, are demanding the sack of the party’s social media handler after inadvertently exposing its recent Abuja rally as poorly attended, busting the falsehood of ‘thousands of marchers’ in previously spread doctored images by the violent-prone ‘Obidients’.
Hours after the Obidients tried to call attention to the rally with claims that it pulled thousands of voters from neighboring states to the Federal Capital Territory, the official Twitter page of the Labour Party released a set of images that betrayed the lie, showing only a handful of supporters gathered, some of whom were allegedly paid ‘mobilization fees’ to attend the event.
The revelation provoked anger from the supporters and prompted allegations of sabotage. Many of them accused the handler of the page of working at odds with the ‘movement’, citing previous incidents where the official stance of the party, published through its verified pages, contradicted the claims of supporters.
The conflict is a manifestation of internal confusion and poor coordination besetting Obi’s unlikely bid, in which his sectional supporters cannot agree on the version of events to present to the public in order to alter the perception of his chances in the minds of the majority of Nigerians who, rightly, view Obi as a non-starter.