Ooni of Ife to Peter Obi: “You Are The Tsunami”

By Gideon Njoku

The revered Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi,  on Monday, 22nd May, called Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, “the tsunami.”

The Ooni hailed Obi with this name at the historic commissioning of the 650,000 -barrel a day Petroleum Refinery, promoted and owned by Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.

The Refinery is located at Ibeju, Lekki, Lagos, and was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, in the presence of five other African Presidents.

It was witnessed by a mammoth crowd of dignitaries within and outside Nigeria, including members of the Diplomatic Community.

Both the Ooni and Obi were present. On sighting Obi, who was in company with former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, the Ooni hailed him: “The tsunami. You are the tsunami. You are the tsunami.”

The Ooni was apparently referring to Obi’s unprecedented performance  at Nigeria’s Presidential Election held on February 25, 2023.

A couple of months after he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and joined the comatose Labour Party, Obi gave life to the LP, drawing millions of Nigerians to the party, and carried out the most robust Presidential Campaign by any Candidate, ever, in Nigeria, with youths as his target.

At the election, he gave the Presidential Candidates of the old entrenched Political Parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  a run ” for their money.”

Even though the election was, allegedly, heavily rigged against him, Obi won 12 states as did the Candidates of the APC and PDP – Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar. And even though the Electoral Umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu the winner, not a few people insist Obi was, allegedly, brazenly robbed of victory.

Both Obi and Atiku are in Court challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect.

Tinubu will be sworn-in as President on 29th May, 2023.