By Banji Alabi

There is no-gain-saying the fact that no man or nation can experience radical and positive changes using the same methods or strategies all the time. This is a global fact; it is a fact that both the Ndigbo and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi must, in their enlightened self interest, come to terms with.

Towards the 2023 presidential election, Obi was daily gallivanting from church to church seeking and enjoying fake adoption and endorsement from most of these church leaders the way they deliver fake miracles and prophecies instead of seeking strategic alliances and partnership. He was also ubiquitous at every conceivable Internal Displaced Persons’ camp whipping up sentiments instead of seeking strategic collaboration capable of increasing electoral values.

Let it be said that there is no crime in identifying with unfortunate Nigerians that circumstances forced them to have their homes in IDP camps; but to use that to whip up sentiments against government lies the question of how this can honestly translate to electoral fortunes for the ex- governor of Anambra State.  Currently his partnership with Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso’s one state NNPP, and now fractured beyond redemption, is yet to be seen as a magic wand or as a strategic alliance. And as if jinxed, he did not only abandon what could have gone for his legitimate platform that was fast becoming a harmattan fire; he jumped boat for a solace at the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) where he permanently remains a stranger and endangered specie also. In one fell swoop, he poured into the Atlantic all the gains from his labour in the Labour Party, the gains and the strength he could have used to negotiate and seek functional strategic collaborations. He failed to learn from Tinubu’s party faithfulness, loyalty and resilience, which eventually earned Asiwaju electoral reward. Obi’s jinx did not stop at the above as he chose to take after former vice president Atiku Anbubakar as a nomadic party-politician changing political parties as he changes dresses.

Let us be brutally honest with ourselves: elections are not won on Twitter trends or eloquent soundbites. Elections are won with structure, collaboration and boots on the ground. You don’t win the Presidency with vibes. You win it with wards, LGAs and polling units manned by loyal party agents.

Rhetoric may win you applause; structures win you Aso Rock. The last governorship election in Anambra State exposed this truth. Obi couldn’t even deliver his own backyard. He sponsored a candidate for governorship in his home state and the man came a distant third. If you can’t command your own state, how do you intend to command a nation of 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory?

The facts are damning. In 2023, Obi had no party agents in over 60 per cent of polling units nationwide. No agents, no results sheets, no defence. That is not an oversight; that is unseriousness. Power is not donated. Power is captured through organisation, alliances and relentless groundwork. It is not captured through press conferences and pontificating. Obi’s presidential career ended in 2023 and he will fail again.

So, what must Ndigbo do? The time for politics of isolation is over. I make this appeal without apology. Ndigbo must vote massively for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Then we must sit at the table and negotiate for a big, undeniable stake in this government—ministries, agencies, economic corridors, infrastructure. That is how power works.

Look at history. After the annulment of June 12, 1993, election, the Yoruba nation did not retreat into anger. They built alliances across the North, South-South, and Middle Belt.  They organised, they negotiated, and they forced the hand of the political class. By 1999, both the Alliance for Democracy/All People’s Party and People’s Democratic Party fielded only Yoruba candidates – Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae. That was not luck. That was structure. That was strategy.

Ndigbo can and must do the same. But it starts with collaboration, not confrontation. It starts with building bridges in Kano, Kaduna, Ilorin, Lagos, Owo, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Calabar. It starts with being present in every ward, every LGA, every state. It starts with aligning with the man who holds the levers of power today – President Tinubu.

Rhetoric without structure has failed us. Protest votes without alliances have failed us. Only mainstream politics delivers the Presidency. The pathway to an Igbo Presidency is through national collaboration, not regional isolation.

Igbos must come to the mainstream of Nigerian politics. We must play national politics to win nationally. We must negotiate from strength, not from sentiment. We must trade votes for concrete development, federal presence, and a clear, enforceable pathway for a President of Igbo extraction in the near future. Vote Tinubu, negotiate hard, build alliances to capture power. The door to the mainstream is open. Let us walk through it together, and strategically. “Ka anyi jekota. Aka nri kwo aka ekpe, aka ekpe akwo aka nri”- meaning, when the right hand washes the left hand, the left hand too will wash the right hand.  Bola Ahmed Tinubu will triumph, insha Allah.

• Alabi Esq. is a Lagos-based human rights lawyer and National Chairman Ondo State Eminent Persons Group.