Mr Peter Obi and Peter Obi

On Monday, billionaire businessman, Arthur Eze, advised Peter Obi, the candidate of labouthe r Party to withdraw from the 2023 presidential race because he could not win, so he should expect angry reactions. Thus, the Obidients, the codename for supporters of the Labour Party flagbearer, have replied to Eze.

Obidients said Obi “is not running for the South-East region dominated by Igbo people,” but rather “contesting to be the president of Nigerian people to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.”

According to them, Obi is “a Nigerian project that does not need the support of Igbo politicians alone to become president but that of the Nigerian electorate who are his political structure.”

One of the strong voices that reacted to Eze was Francis Arinze, a Nigerian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008. He has been the Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni since 2005. Arinze was one of the principal advisors to Pope John Paul II and was considered papabile before the 2005 papal conclave, which elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Arinze

Arinze tweeted, “Mr Arthur Eze’s comment on Peter Obi is a clear sign that the 2023 election will be a tussle between the poor and the rich, the youth and elders.

“If our Nigerian youths fail to take back their country in 2023, they will experience the worst suppression ever.

Eze stirred the hornet’s nest on Monday during the 2022 Ofala festival of His Royal Highness Igwe Robert Eze, the traditional ruler of Ukpo in the Dunukofia local government area of the state.

He said that day: “I warned Peter Obi to withdraw from this race but he would not listen. I told him plainly that I’m not part of his plans. I told him to drop his ambition…I told him he cannot win; so that he would not waste his time and money.
One of the strong voices that reacted to Eze was Francis Arinze, a Nigerian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008. He has been the Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni since 2005. Arinze was one of the principal advisors to Pope John Paul II and was considered papabile before the 2005 papal conclave, which elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Arinze tweeted, “Mr Arthur Eze’s comment on Peter Obi is a clear sign that the 2023 election will be a tussle between the poor and the rich, the youth and elders.

“If our Nigerian youths fail to take back their country in 2023, they will experience the worst suppression ever.”