Nigerian politicians are wont to change their sloganeering with every election they participate in. It’s similar to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who ran under the “Change” campaign theme in 2015 and switched to “Next Level” four years later.
One wonders if this is what is playing out within the Peter Obi camp, as the Village Boys Movement seems to be replacing the redoubtable Obidient Movement. Although the incipient switch is primarily focused on the brand name rather than the theme, the suspicion remains valid, considering the imminent 2027 electioneering.
Political Operatives Cut from a Different Cloth
Obidients may not be politicians, but mostly activist Nigerians who participated in the #EndSARS protest against police brutality. At a time when political operatives have sorely disappointed Nigerians by crossing over to the opposition, the Obidients deserve commendation for remaining faithful to their ideals. Also laudable is their staying power because most Nigerian politicians abandon the political path they tread immediately the elections are over and don’t go their way.
Their principal indeed defected, and they followed suit. This has been explained away as caused by the desperation of the powers-that-be to shut the political space. Besides, their said principal is not occupying any elective office.
When analysts posit that Nigerian politics is bereft of ideology, they forget the millions of young Nigerians who proudly identify as Obidients based on the conviction that their mascot is a paragon of the possibilities and promise that the country holds. By their fidelity to this ideology, the Obidients wipe the shame from politicians who stand for nothing but are perpetually pitching tents where their interests are guaranteed, and they can have access to the common patrimony.
A Formidable Movement like its Name
The same way the Obidient Movement is centered on Peter Obi – a former two-term governor of Anambra State, is how the identity is derived from his name itself. The name is a creative adaptation of “obedient’ to suggest how loyal and committed Peter Obi’s supporters are to his ideals. This then explains why defection is rarely recorded in their ranks, even amidst inducement and intimidation to join those with the juice. While the typical politician banks on vote buying, these devotees and their man tell whoever cares to listen: “we no dey give shi shi.”
Carrying this ascetic attitude to the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi and his supporters were able to quake the Nigeria’s political landscape to the utter stupefaction of political heavyweights. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was recently reported as saying that the establishment in Lagos State is still reeling from the shameful outcome of the 2023 election in Lagos State. He called it shameful because Peter Obi trounced Bola Tinubu in Lagos State – his impregnable stronghold.
The disruption from Obi and his Obidients was such that a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, would counter what INEC and the courts returned. The man declared on August 11, 2025, that Obi won the 2023 presidential poll and that the results were altered to favour the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu. According to the electoral umpire, Peter Obi won in 12 states, including the Federal Capital Territory. Courtesy of his Obidients, the Labour Party won one governorship, six senatorial seats and 34 House of Reps seats, including the one clinched by a commercial motorcycle (Okada) rider in Kaduna State. This is an unprecedented achievement for a fringe political party in Nigeria.
So Much for the Political Structure Hype
In the buildup to the poll, opponents openly scorned Peter Obi’s chances, declaring his ambition to be dead on arrival because he has no political structure. This is a euphemism for having the wherewithal (including thugs for the dirty jobs) with which to influence the outcome of elections. Obi went ahead to humour his detractors by running on a fringe platform known as the Labour Party, insisting that the over 100 million Nigerians living below the poverty line and the Almighty God as his political structure.
Yet, even without being explicitly mentioned, the Obidients – comprising mostly of the Gen Z’s and woke Nigerians loomed large and proved to be the structure Peter Obi really needed for the election.
Who are these Obidients?
The Obidient movement comprises supporters of former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, largely characterized as a youth-driven political force that gained significant momentum among young, enlightened Nigerians, particularly in urban areas. While it originated as a grassroots movement seeking to upend the entrenched political order, its demographic composition is diverse, including tech founders, professionals, students, and Nigerians in the diaspora.
The movement is largely driven by under-35 professionals who are fierce, independent-minded, and highly active on social media platforms like Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok. Obidients are the internet personalities and tech-savvy urban residents who have rid themselves of ethno-religious considerations that have defined Nigerian politics for a long time.
Driven by the “Obidient Creed” of competence, character, capacity, and credibility, members embrace the movement as a platform to push for better governance and an enabling environment for innovation, often contrasting with the status quo.
Adopting the Village Boys Movement amounts to Identity Crisis
The foregoing depicts how antithetical it is for the Obidients to identify as Village Boys. For one, the former can’t be the latter when a significant percentage of its members are Nigerians in the diaspora who are active participants in online mobilisation and funding support.
Their international clout was recently highlighted by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Daniel Bwala, when he blamed his bumbling outing in Al Jazeera’s Head to Head interview on the Obidients. If the Obidients can highlight the shortcomings of a presidential spokesman on a global platform, they should not identify as roughnecks or hillbillies.
More importantly, the idea of the Village Boys Movement lacks creativity and imagination. It was formed as an impulsive counterforce to President Bola Tinubu’s City Boys campaign initiative for the 2027 election. Everyone knows that the City Boys initiative is the vehicle through which President Tinubu and his supporters are trying to worm their way into the hearts of woke Nigerian youth – the same demography of Obidients. Therefore, the Village Boys concept represents a situation where Peter Obi’s supporters are following rather than leading, as they typically do.
Moreover, such brand association increases the likelihood of people recalling the City Boys and their principal whenever they mention the Village Boys. That is not advantageous to their cause.
All said, it will amount to brand confusion if Peter Obi’s supporters continue identifying as Village Boys and the Obidient Movement concurrently.
Written by Sylvester Ugwuanyi
