The defeated candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has been queried by Nigerians over his sudden abandonment of election season theatrics, notably the heavily publicized attendance of church programs where he tried and failed to inspire religious-tinged support for his presidential ambition.
After the presidential election, we no dey see Peter Obi for church again.
— LMAN ✨ (@L_man__) June 10, 2023
During the campaign, the former Anambra governor came under criticism for turning the pulpit into an arena for political campaigns. Obi became a regular visitor to different churches where he relentlessly urged the congregation to back him at the polls over their shared faith.
A major low point came when he urged the church to “take back the country”. The message, which removed all pretensions that his victory plan rested primarily on whipping up ethnoreligious sentiments, was a marked prelude to his ‘religious war’ chant to famous cleric Pastor David Oyedepo. A leaked phone conversation revealed that the two were coordinating action to target Christians in the country with inciting messages in a bid to inspire support for the candidate.
With elections over and his defeat comprehensive, Obi has saved his media brinksmanship for dramatic court appearances and other opportunistic events to prop up flagging support amongst his core base who are now confessing their admiration of President Tinubu’s bright start.
He is no longer making grand entries into special church conventions and Sunday worship programs to vaunt his purported “simple” lifestyle, despite being named in multiple financial scandals, including the PANDORA PAPERS leak which detailed his secret businesses and off-shore bank accounts where untold sums of money were stashed.