Obi Changes Campaign Strategy As Supporters Predict Defeat For Tinubu In Lagos

Peter Obi of the Labour Party may have been derided when entered the presidential race, but les than two weeks to the election, he seems like the man to beat.

He has chased down two of the leading candidates in the campaign, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party , and equally staged large rallies across the country.

After staging large rallies and showing doubters that the Obidients Movement is not just on social media, the former Anambra State Governor is now going directly to meet voters.

Obi ended his campaign with an eye-catching Lagos rally that drew a reported over 80,000 attendees and well over 10km road walk to the venue with a reported over one million live views online.

On  Monday, he showed political sagacity when he visited the computer village in Lagos and was welcomed by a mammoth reception.

The unannounced visit forced traders and customers to abandon their stores and businesses to catch a glimpse of the man they believe has the character to change the country for the better.

Obi’s direct approach to the campaign may be a breath of fresh air for many of his supporters.

According to one of the coordinators of the Obidient Movement in Abuja who spoke to THE WHISTLER, Ralph Obinna ‘aka’ Obi Obinna, said Obi has changed the structure of political campaigns in the country.

Obinna said Nigeria needs people like Obi to come out and change things. “He has blown them away with his campaign, next four years would be better whether he wins or not,” he said, smiling.

But Obi believes he can win and appeared to have identified where the votes are and is going after them.

 “He has identified where the votes are and wants to take the campaign to them, to speak with them directly instead of through a corrupt structure,” said Thomas Aliku, an Obidient Movement strategist.

Aliku explained that Obi’s support is organic, self funded, he and his crew scattered across the country are relatively not known.

He said, “We started late because we thought what is it we can bring to the table.

“We realised that one area many members of the movement may not think about is the technical part of the campaign which is the strategy of the campaign. And we have been doing it.

“Our job is to win one voter every time from all of us for Obi in the market and telling them to win one person, that’s a contact-to-contact campaign. We have been hugely successful.

“Our candidate is doing that now but in a different way by going to where the voters are and selling himself for those ones to sell him.”

While critics have said lack of candidates by the Labour Party in all available elective positions would also hurt Obi’s chances as the number of people who would sell the candidate at the grassroots would be limited, Yusuf Danladi, a car dealer in Abuja,  said it’s not true.

 He said he had succeeded in speaking to over 200 people about  Obi since the campaign started.

He told THE WHISTLER that “Whenever people come, i shout Obidient  and surprisingly almost all smile and shout back. They are not pretending. Even those who don’t shout back ask why am I supporting Obi as a northern Muslim.

“By the time I explain to them, they nod their heads and declare their support.

“I can tell you that over 200 people have been converted by me at this car stand alone. I am a member of Arewa Obi WhatsApp group and a few others. We know how we are doing the campaign for Obi and Yusuf Datti-Ahmed and Nigerians.

“It’s our future. We must not fail.”

No one knows Obi’s itinerary when it comes to where next he would pop up but a member of his campaign confided in this paper that, “Obi won’t leave Lagos soon. He feels and everyone feels he can take Lagos.

There is that sense Lagos can fall for the Labour Party,” which he said can lead to domino effect.

Obidients believe they can take Lagos from the ruling APC because of the massive support Obi gets from Lagos.

“We have our strategy and it’s working. If you think Monday’s unscheduled visit to Computer village, Ladipo in Lagos was meaningless, wait for it.

“We would take Lagos, I can assure you of that,” a member told this newspaper.

Obi is said to be paying less attention to the South East and South South  because he believes he’s the candidate to beat in the two regions.

The source said further, “He has those two regions in the bag. Even North Central is in the bag and if we take Lagos, we take South West.

“With three leading candidates in the election, one has to be careful of his strategy.

“We must do everything possible to be in the run off if it comes down to that. That’s the technical part of this campaign.”

The spokesman of the Obi/Datti presidential campaign, Yunusa Tanko, told THE WHISTLER that the new strategy after the grand rally in Lagos is to interface with likely voters at the polling units to canvas for vote.

“We have our strategy,” he said, “and it’s designed for maximum results. We have ended the grand rally, our next strategy is moving from polling unit to polling unit.

“We want likely voters at their various polling units to hear us directly.

“That’s where the action is now. As I am talking to you, we are heading to Nnewi, a local government in Anambra State to do just that.

“We hope to bring the message of inclusivity, consumption to production and a new Nigeria to them in small units.

“To be clear, the remaining period would be spent doing just that – canvas for votes at these polling units nationwide,” he stressed.

While the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a party Obi defected from in 2022 and the APC are still staging big rallies, Tanko said, “Our strategy is different. We are organic,” and hopes that in the end Obi would emerge victorious at the poll on February 25.