By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
He buried his face between his two tiny, matured but paralysed limbs smiling, watching and listening to something of interest in his small ash-colour android cell phone under a tree at a quiet corner in the hot afternoon of Friday, November 11, 2022 at Area 10, Garki, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Beside him, is his locally assembled tricycle with the inscriptions: May God Help Peter Obi To Be President of Nigeria 2023. He is neither begging for alms nor disturbing the peace of the public by shouting campaign slogans but he is passing his message in the most decent way he can despite his status as a Person With Disability (PWD).
Meet Ambassador Sani Ibrahim alias “One Nigeria” from Kumbotso Local Government Area, Kano state in the Northern Nigeria with a population of 409,500 based on the 2016 population projection, who is one of the staunch but unknown supporters of the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, a man he has never met but has read and heard so much about his sterling administrative qualities and his capacity to manage the economy of Nigeria if voted into the office of President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
At first, Ibrahim did not want to talk on the suspicion that Prompt News Online reporter may be one of the people who had recently attacked and wounded him despite his condition for daring to have a political opinion on who will govern Nigeria.
Ibrahim who described himself as an unapologetic “Apostle” of One Nigeria, narrated how he was attacked by one of the frontline security agencies in Nigeria for choosing to support the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 General Election.
According to him, he has been severally harrassed and was physically
accosted recently in Abuja to stop supporting the party of his choice, adding that he has also been persuaded to switch his support to a particular political party in the race for the presidency.
Said he: “I have been attacked by a particular security agency under the bridge at the
old Chelsea Hotel near Grand Square, Abuja. I have been harrassed several times too and wooed by the leading political parties to abandon the Labour Party but I said I am supporting Peter Obi who will bring about a Better Nigeria”.
Asked if he is not making up the story of being attacked for political belief in his pitable condition by a security agency, Ibrahim pointed to his bandaged paralysed right leg, insisting that he was not disturbing the peace of the public under the bridge but merely seating on his tricycle kitted in the paraphernalia of the Labour Party.
Probed further if he is a member of the ‘Obi-dient Movement’, the popular name of Peter Obi’s supporters, Ibrahim denied meeting with the group, saying his instinct led him to support the Labour Party flagbearer after reading and hearing alot about his antecedent in private life and government office.
“My mind tells me what to do. I am a Researcher, so my research revealed that Peter Obi has done good things in private life and government office.
For the above reasons I am supporting Peter Obi to become the next President of Nigeria in 2023″, Ibrahim posited.
Explaining further, Ibrahim who is paralysed from waist down, no thanks to polio attack in his formative years, said: “from my research, his good track records speak for themselves. I am a researcher and all I have read up showed that Peter Obi has better pedigree than all other candidates in the race”.
The Kano-born social crusader also disclosed that he is specifically rooting for Peter Obi because of equity, justice and above all national unity, saying it is time for the other parts of Nigeria to support a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction.
His words: “Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, the Yoruba people play their own government, we see it and Hausa people they are playing their own government, we see it and the people they are call minority, Niger Delta, they have played their own government.
“So the remaining is for the Igbo people wey dey come now and now is the time we all Nigerians, as them they are supporting other languages, we in Nigeria too.
“And once again, Peter Obi, he is not a criminal. He is not stealing money. Do you understand. He is not corrupt. Me I tell you true. Me I am a Researcher. I have researched all the (presidential) candidates no one has the quality like Peter Obi. No one has good record like Peter Obi, that is why I make him my choice.
“Me I want my country to be better for all of us not only for the elected few, for all. So we get the peace, we get the justice, we get the unity, we have the development in the country. Our children to go to school, free education. Our youth to get work to do so that we can get peace in the nation.We cannot get terrorists people if our youths are going to school and we are empowering them. All these kinds of terrorism we cannot get them because our youths are going to school, our youths are going to work. You understand”.
“So all these things
happening in my country, killing innocent people everyday, food items are increasing everyday are affecting me…
Asked how old he is to know the political evolution of Nigeria and speaking to the issues affecting the country with authority, he said: “I am 40 or 42 years old and I have told you that am a Researcher”.
On how he fell in love with Peter Obi, Labour Party and Obidient Movement, Ibrahim revealed that he got convinced to support Peter Obi by following his activities in the social media, pointing out that as a social media person he is exposed to know the truth.
Said he: “Sir, I am telling you true, true am a Researcher….I am following what is going on. Since I am a social media man, I am in the system. I am watching what is going on. I can tell you that I am in the international community, you understand. So I am following all that is going on in the social media. Now, you know it is not just only Nigeria but the world that is well organised to make our world a better place.
On how he will want Nigeria to be in the nearest future in the face of the economic hardship which have forced my Nigerians young and old to travel abroad for greener pastures, Ibrahim attributed the state of affairs to endemic misrule.
Said he: “I can tell you that many Nigerians are running away from their own country to foriegn nations because Nigeria has bad leaders. We don’t have a good leader that bring development to all. This is why I am supporting Peter Obi to come and change the situation”
“I am sure when Peter Obi comes to power many people who have left the country will come back home. By God’s grace he do well. Peter Obi will try his best because the man has great ideas to make Nigeria a better place than it is now”
“He has ideas, the idea to make Nigeria better, that’s why you have a United States. What makes United States to be United States and very powerful is because they are accepting people’s ideas from all over the world to build their land”.
“So this man get ideas, Peter Obi, so let us give him the support to bring the ideas to rebuild Nigeria to a new Nigeria, a better place for all Nigerians. Sharing the idea is better than sharing the money to people because when you are sharing the idea the people will continue forever using that idea to bring development to their land”.
On his advice for Nigerians from the North, West, East and South who will vote to elect a new President in 2023, Ibrahim said: “I want to beg all Nigerians to make Nigeria better, to make Nigeria a land of peace and justice. I want Nigeria to continue as one in development. Please and please, I am begging all Nigerians whether muslims, christians, pegans, from the North, East, West and South, whether you’re Europeans and people across the country to please give Peter Obi of Labour Party the support to be the next President of Nigeria so he can bring that ideas that he has to develop our country.
“Another understanding from me is that Almighty God answers the cry of humanity. Many people are crying in Nigeria. Small small children are crying because terrorists are killing their mothers, their fathers so they are crying and that cry God is not happy for that.
“So that is why God bring this man out, Peter Obi. Na God give him that power because if look around many people get money pass him. Some people they entered politics before him but God is raisins him up, to make him bring out that idea to wipe out that cry of humanity. That is how God answers humanity that is why God bring out Peter Obi.
“So I want everybody in Nigeria please and please let us not disappoint Peter Obi so that our country will develop more than it is at the moment”, Ibrahim concluded.
