By Casmir Igbokwe
‘Prometheus Bound’ is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Aeschylus. It is about a clash between power-drunk Zeus (Jupiter) and the immovable will of Prometheus. It also revolves around the interplay of justice and fate. In the play, Zeus plans to destroy humanity. But Prometheus, a Titan, defies him by giving out the secret of fire just to save mankind. For this act of defiance, Zeus orders that he be chained to the mountains and perpetually tortured.
The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi, has become Nigeria’s Prometheus. When I wrote ‘Peter Obi has become their nightmare’ last year, I never knew that it was still morning on creation day then. In that piece, published on September 26, 2022, I chronicled various attacks on Obi as he prepared to campaign for the presidential election then. I noted that they wanted to deploy lies and half truths to de-market him. Then, spokesmen and hirelings of the ruling party made Obi both the subject and object of their campaigns. I wondered why they were having nightmares about someone who didn’t have structure like they claimed; someone who was purportedly a social media creation. Rather than discuss what they could do to deliver Nigeria from the bondage of misrule, insecurity and economic stagnation, I added, they busied themselves fighting to pull down a man whom God had anointed.
I noted, “His traducers have tried to link him with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). It has not worked. They have scrutinized him in and out but found nothing incriminating. Hence, they have vowed to manufacture incredible tales against him and make them look real by attributing them to some credible newspapers. There was this particular false story about a certain young woman who accused him of forcing her to engage in drug peddling and using her as a sex toy. The Sun newspaper was said to have published it. It happens to be a figment of the imagination of the hired writer as The Sun never published such fiction. The way things are going, I won’t be surprised if a woman somewhere misses her period tomorrow and accuses Obi of being responsible. Unfortunately for them, whoever is pursuing a chick will always stumble and fall while the chick will always scamper away unscathed.”
Now, both the campaigns and elections are over. The ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) performed some abracadabra called election on February 25 this year. After that show of shame, they asked aggrieved parties to go to court.
Obi and some others have gone to court. But rather than allow the court processes to follow the natural course, some goons in and around the corridors of power have continued to harass and embarrass the man whose only crime is his desire to change the bad narratives in his country.
The latest shenanigans against him came in form of his impersonation which led to his brief detention at the Heathrow Airport in London. Obi, who has lived in London for decades, suddenly became a prime suspect for crimes. The immigration officials in London pulled him aside for interrogation. But some Nigerians around cried foul and wondered why he was being detained. Eventually, he was released and he is back in the country. Reports have attributed Obi’s ordeal to the APC.
This scenario happened a few days after the revelation by Obi that he was being pressured to leave Nigeria. He refused to leave, saying Nigeria was his country and he was going nowhere. They have scrutinized his accounts. They have tried to entrap him with women. They said he was plotting an interim government and had, thus, committed treason. Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, had to travel to Washington DC to inform the world about the treason charge. So far, they have failed and will continue to fail.
The irony in all these is that they said Obi came third in the election. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was allocated the second position. But, they have left the man who came second to tackle the one who purportedly came third. There is nothing they have not done to cow him. But, he remains unfazed.
Obi’s travails are an indication of one thing: he is a threat to their plots to legitimize a flawed election and continue their rapacious rape of the country’s resources. But it will not augur well for them.
Obi and the ‘Obidient’ Movement have come to stay. Here is someone they said had no structure. He has shown what he could do even without a criminal structure. He has shown that Nigerians across ethnic and religious divides desire good leadership and want Nigeria to be better. The only problem is the few corrupt and selfish individuals who want the continued stagnation of the country so that they can continue to milk it dry.
Well, you can cow people for some time. You can intimidate them for a while. But, there comes a time when they will say enough is enough. Nigeria has reached that point because the majority of the citizens have suffered enough. They appear to be silent. But, what we have now is silence of the graveyard. They are watching to see how the tribunals will handle the cases before them.
In my earlier mentioned piece, ‘Peter Obi has become their nightmare’, I quoted the words of the famous Emperor of Ancient Rome, Marcus Aurelius, who said: “When a bunch of known corrupt people unite against one man and spare no effort to ridicule him, blackmail him and attempt to assassinate his character, blindly follow that one man!”
This is why many Nigerians have blindly followed Peter Obi. In ‘Prometheus Unbound’, Heracles finally frees Prometheus from his chains. In this lyrical drama, Percy Bysshe Shelly chronicles Prometheus’ strike against oppression; his ultimate triumph over the tyranny and bigotry of the gods led by Zeus. I have no doubt that Nigeria’s Prometheus will be unbound one day. A thief can continue to enjoy his loot. But one day, the owner of the looted property will emerge to reclaim his goods. Nigeria remains our country. We shall never allow a few cabals to hijack it. We must take back our country.