BY EMAMEH GABRIEL
When a man picks up membership cards from three different political parties within five months, all in pursuit of a presidential ticket that continues to elude him, and then turns around to say he is not desperate, reasonable people are left scratching their heads. What exactly does desperation look like, if not this?
Peter Obi’s political journey in recent months has been nothing short of restless. He left the Labour Party under a cloud of internal crises. Then he moved to the African Democratic Congress in January of this year. Within weeks, that relationship soured. Now he is holding a card of the National Democratic Congress. That is three parties in five months. For a man who wants to lead a nation, the lack of patience and commitment to any political structure is striking.
Let us go back a little. There was a time when Obi stood before his supporters in APGA and made a firm pledge. He said he would never abandon that party. He vowed never to turn his back on APGA, the platform that nurtured his political career. That vow did not last. When the wind shifted, he moved on. And when that next move did not work out, he moved again. Each time, he left behind a party in disarray.
Obi joined the PDP, and in 2019 he was chosen as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate. That ticket suffered a heavy defeat against former President Muhammadu Buhari. By 2023, Obi had abandoned the PDP for the Labour Party, where he was given the presidential ticket without a single challenger.
Obi walked into that party, enjoyed its structure, and became its presidential candidate. But by the time he left, the party was deeply fractured. Internal disputes, legal battles, and factional conflicts became its defining features. When asked about these problems, Obi did not look inward. Instead, he pointed fingers at President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress. He blamed the ruling party for his inability to manage his own political home. That explanation never quite added up. How can a rival party be responsible for your internal party crisis?
What Obi has never explained to Nigerians is this: he walked into a party and seized its structure from the people who built it. The trouble in the Labour Party began the very day he unveiled his presidential campaign committee. If memory serves, that list was immediately challenged for being dominated by his kinsmen. Even in northern Nigeria, protests erupted in some states over allegations that Obi had appointed his own people as heads of campaign structures there. That was how Obi fractured the Labour Party within months. The rest, as they say, is history.
Obi’s departure from the African Democratic Congress just days ago has ignited criticism across the political spectrum. He left the ADC for the NDC unceremoniously, and the move has fractured the much-touted coalition that was formed to wrestle power from the ruling APC.
The ADC’s spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, during an interview on Arise TV made a telling observation about Obi’s lack of genuine interest in any party’s platform. He said: “You may invite Peter Obi and ask him what is ADC’s position on fuel subsidy? what is ADC’s framework on security? He doesn’t know because he has never been interested. They are just waiting for the ticket to be handed over to them.”
Even Obi’s former running mate in the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, later questioned the former governor’s temperament and penchant for jumping parties.
Datti asked: “How can a leader say when there’s quarrel somewhere, he will walk away? So when there’s quarrel in Nigeria, you’ll walk away? These are things that don’t add up….”
This pattern has repeated itself so many times that it is no longer a coincidence. Obi has blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission for his electoral loss. He has blamed the judiciary for not giving him the verdict he wanted. He has blamed the media for unfair coverage. He has blamed former allies for betrayal. He has blamed the opposition for conspiring against him. The list grows longer with each passing month. The only thing he has not blamed is the air he breathes. It would not be surprising if one day he also blames the people who first talked him into politics. Or even God.
For a man who built a reputation as a successful businessman, this pattern raises a quiet but important question. Was his business success a product of careful strategy, or was it simply good fortune? Because watching his political navigation does not inspire confidence in his planning abilities. A person who thinks several steps ahead does not jump from party to party every few months. A person who builds durable structures does not leave every organization he touches in worse shape than he found it. A man who is strategic about his future does not keep starting from zero, over and over again.
What we see instead is a restless politician searching for a shortcut. The presidential ticket is the goal, but the method has been chaotic. Join a party. Campaign. Face internal opposition. Blame outsiders. Leave. Repeat. That is a treadmill.
Now there is fresh news that an executive member of Obi’s newest political home may be holding dual membership in two different parties at the same time. The full legal implications of this are not yet clear. But for those who have watched Obi’s trajectory, the pattern is familiar. Wherever he goes, confusion seems to follow. The same kind of administrative and legal mess that consumed the Labour Party and the ADC now appears to be knocking on his new door.
If history is any guide, when the next crisis erupts in this new party, Obi will likely find someone else to blame. It may be Tinubu again. It may be the APC. It may be forces he describes as anti-democratic. It is almost certain that he will not look at his own role in creating or failing to resolve these crises. But leadership is precisely about handling problems from within, not running from them.
Nigeria needs a president who can manage complexity, hold a coalition together, and resolve disputes without jumping ship. A nation of over 200 million people with deep ethnic, religious, and regional divisions cannot afford a leader whose first instinct, when faced with internal friction, is to walk away and blame someone else. If a man cannot manage a political party, how will he manage a country?
Obi may genuinely believe he is not desperate. He may see himself as a principled man forced by circumstance to switch platforms. But the objective reality tells a different story. Three parties in five months. A trail of internal crises left behind. A habit of blaming everyone except himself. These are not the marks of a calm, strategic leader. They are the marks of a man in a hurry.
There is nothing wrong with ambition. Many great leaders have switched parties at key moments in their careers. But there is a difference between a calculated move and a pattern of restlessness. When every party you join ends up in chaos, and every exit is followed by finger-pointing, reasonable people begin to see a common denominator.
Perhaps Obi should pause and reflect. Not on what Tinubu did or what the judiciary decided or what the media wrote. But on his own choices. On why he cannot seem to stay anywhere long enough to build something lasting. On why every political home he enters eventually catches fire. Until he does that, his search for the presidential ticket will likely continue in the same unproductive loop.
Imagine if there were no one building these houses he keeps running to for shelter. Where would he run when none remain?
May God help him, as his supporters often say. But God helps those who help themselves. And right now, the first step to helping himself would be to stop running, look in the mirror, and finally take responsibility for something. Anything.
Because as things stand, no amount of denial changes the truth. A man who has held three party cards in five months and blames everyone else for his troubles is not a victim of circumstance. He is desperate.
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