Peter Obi, left, and Dele Morakinyo.

Dele Morakinyo

Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate for Labour Party in the 2023 general election is currently shouting out to whoever cares to hear! He is raising the alarm about his safety and he has even tracked the source of the threat as coming from: the ruling All Peoples Congress!

Mr Obi who placed third in the 2023 elections after Alhaji Abubakar Atiku who came second, ahead of him, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who won right through the ballots to the Tribunal, and up to the Supreme Court has not come around from the loss in the elections which he was being propped to be in his favour before the reality dawned on him and his supporters who reside mainly on social media platforms.

However, while it is not unheard of before now for contestants to reject, and go on to challenge their losses either in elections, or other contests for that matter, the recent seemingly manipulative narrative by the former two-term governor of Anambra state, sounds rather odd! And should call for concern by all lovers of democracy.

Please who are those who want this overrated politician dead? The man has kept himself busy meddling in every imaginable and some unedifying affairs, probably hoping to up his political status preparatory to the next election of 2027. The man has been visiting his heroes, former military president Ibrahim Babangida who is enjoying in the autumn of his life, in his Minna hilltop palace,  and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who is all over the press offering unsolicited and mostly unacceptable advice. The duo are no doubt role models whose leadership manuals Peter Obi would like to adopt when he becomes president.

From the foregoing, the relentless Mr Obi poses no threat, imminent or remote in my opinion, to warrant his life being threatened by anybody, not the least the ruling federal government who has since left him severely alone! An observer even once commented that you do not whip a child and prevent him from crying- suggesting that the Tinubu government should focus on carrying on with what he has promised Nigeria and Nigerians. And thus leave both Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi alone to freely exercise their rights of disagreeing with government policies and programmes in whichever way they want as long as such remains legitimate and permitted within the laws of Nigeria as well as the international convention.

It is obvious that in the next few days and for a long time.to come Obi’s acolytes, mainly on social media will pick up his claim and make the usual rancorous chorus of it, even unfounded as it is!

As long as Obi does not in any way disturb or disrupt, personally or by proxy, nor by his ubiquitous popping up at every event all around the country, even though some unedifying, he should be allowed to stay alive and pursue his oversized political ambition.

And the Labour Party kingpin, if any of the contending factions within the party still consider him as one of them, should also be advised not to inadvertently acquire the siege mentality to whip up sentiment. Hopefully, he would have forwarded an official complaint to the relevant security agencies  He should keep his eye on the ball, 2027 is around the corner. It will soon be time to start visiting convention grounds, and having private chats with GOs and top religious chieftains, and ordinarily, those should be in his corner in the fight against those who are afraid of him and who want him dead.