People & Money

Peter Obi’s Labour Party and Italian Football Serie A: A Cautionary Tale

Remember Chievo Football Club in the 2001/2 football season? Newly promoted from Italy’s Serie B to Serie A, they were a surprise entrant into topflight football. Popular opinion was that immediate relegation would follow. Staying at the top echelons of club football is no easy task. Elite football does not tolerate perceived upstarts. The similarities with the just concluded presidential elections in Nigeria come to mind.

Nigeria’s nascent democracy, interestingly almost the same age as Chievo’s feats just over twenty years ago has two main political parties, The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Nigeria’s other political parties are comparable to the UK’s Lib Dems and Green Party or the Reform and Socialist parties in the United States. They all have a presence in the multi-party process but barely make waves except when coalitions need to be formed to clinch power and facilitate governance.  Nigeria has been under APC rule for the last eight years while the PDP was at the helm of affairs between 1999 and 2015. Most Nigerians would struggle to remember the names or acronyms of the other less dominant political parties.

Enter the Labour Party. Their presidential flagbearer, Peter Obi defected to Labour Party from PDP and quickly became a favourite with Nigerian youth. In a world very much driven by social media, support for him continued to grow. The Labour Party campaign focused on changing the old guard. The promise is to breathe new life into the political sphere, thereby paving the way for the progress and prosperity that Nigeria so desperately needs.

As far as ideology goes, the Labour party is not offering anything radical but with a dissatisfied electorate, many looking to vote for the first time, Peter Obi represents potential change. His supporters quickly became known as ‘obidients’.  His outward calm and polite nature appeal to a wide demographic. Would he be the David to triumph over the APC/PDP Goliath? Would he upset the established order, could he be Nigeria’s Chievo?

Also Read: Unprepared: Could Peter Obi Turn Out To Be Another Buhari?

Chievo had never been in Serie A before the 2001-02 season. Outliers, like Peter Obi and his Labour Party, they weren’t expected to light up the league. It was to everyone’s surprise therefore that they went toe-to-toe with the traditional big boys like Inter, Juventus and AC Milan, claiming top spot for over a month during the season. By election day 2023 in Nigeria, the previously unfancied Labour Party seemed to be ahead in many pre-election polls. Nigerians waited with bated breath for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the results.

Early on Wednesday morning of 1st March, the presidential champions league places were announced. INEC declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC the winner of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election with 8,794,726 votes, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar was second with 6,984,520, Peter Obi and Labour Party were third with 6,101,533 and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso fourth with 1,496,687.

As with Chievo who entered fearlessly onto the big stage, temporarily topping the league but eventually earning a fifth-place finish, the Labour Party was pipped to the post. Natural order has been restored and there will be no handing over of the baton to another political party. Obidients are naturally disappointed. There will be no UEFA Cup compensation for them. It’s back to the drawing board for the Labour Party. They will need to develop winning strategies for 2027.

However, what is apparent from this election season is the new fervour and interest shown for the process. A record number of Nigerians were registered as voters. There was renewed belief that each vote would count. The energy levels were encouraging despite the new cashless policy that threatened to upset everyone’s apple cart. APC strongholds like Lagos were won by the Labour Party, giving hope to the underdog. Fortune favours the brave. To the observer, this is a key takeaway. True democracy really should be a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Also Read: Obi to go to Court as Tinubu Extends Olive Branch

Might this be the time to say that Chievo remained in Serie A the next season and the season after that, albeit finishing lower than fifth? This is a caution to all – the established order is not easily displaced.

Currently, Chievo plays in the fourth tier of the Italian League.

Lande Abudu

Lande Abudu (aka Miss Football) is the Component Lead for Standalone Solar Home Systems on the World Bank Nigeria Electrification Project

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