For the umpteenth time, the former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi has taken to his characteristic self-destruct button in a shameless attempt of wanting to defame an opponent who is utterly heads and shoulders above him on all grounds, yet like an unskilled artist, he ends up screwing up his lines, shooting himself in the foot for what has grown to become an accustomed pattern.
This has happened on many occasions and has consistently lent credence to his vacuous intelligence and crude political ingenuity that are antithetical to the caliber of a leader the country needs. Obi has severally been seen and heard making statements that whenever verified are either bereft of accuracy, practicability or ingenuity, with claims making the rounds that he conscientiously cooks them up to titillate Nigerians and have them accepting and running with his assertions on face value.
But as often as he puts out such vain strategy, it has always been met with failure as Nigerians have continually showed him how much of a studious, researchable, investigative and pragmatic class of people we are not to embrace whatever gets thrown at us hook, line and sinker. And to speak volumes of how much of a chauvinistic individual he is, Obi has kept to his sterilized gun whose best attack is at the person cocking it.
In the latest hackneyed counterproductive attack, Obi was seen comparing the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Brazilian legend Pele who had a glorious footballing career but not fit to play competitive football of today. In other words, the Labour Party flagbearer thought it canny to compare the presidency of the country to football in his “witting” and “witty” attempt at disparaging an opponent. Let’s even assume for a while that truly the presidency is akin to football, Obi’s vile attempt was vacant of who he is in the world of football. Is he attempting to call himself a Kyllian Mbappe? Or a Vinicius Junior? Or even a Neymar? He failed to let us know. However, it was not without a source as the man himself clearly knows that his analogy does not see him better than the footballer he compared Tinubu with. He could not reel out which contemporary footballer he has similarities to because he knows where he belongs in the league of footballers that are considered fit and gracious in the round-leather game.
To help him, looking at his antecedents and the characters he has consistently arrayed to Nigerians over his political career, it won’t be far-fetched to draw a comparison between him and the Senegalese Ali Dia who hoaxed his way into the English Premier League and would later be found out to be a charlatan.