Peter Obi had a chance to become great but squandered it, Kenneth Okonkwo says

Peter Obi had a rare chance to become a great leader, but he threw it away himself, according to Kenneth Okonkwo, a former spokesman for Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign.

Speaking on the Selah Meditate Podcast, Okonkwo was asked to describe Obi, Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Tinubu in one sentence. He said Nigerians had been ready to hand Obi political power without the usual struggle and bargaining associated with elective office.

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Peter Obi is a man who had opportunity of being great and dashed it by himself. No system will give you egg without breaking it. You can’t make an omelet without breaking an egg.

“Peter Obi is a man who had opportunity of being great and dashed it by himself. No system will give you egg without breaking it. You can’t make an omelet without breaking an egg,” Okonkwo said. He argued that Obi needed to make major sacrifices to secure and retain the opportunity Nigerians had presented to him.

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He’s a man that God and living people would have loved to give him what he wants, but he needs to make the necessary sacrifice, no matter what it will entail, to hold onto that free gift.

“He’s a man that God and living people would have loved to give him what he wants, but he needs to make the necessary sacrifice, no matter what it will entail, to hold onto that free gift,” Okonkwo said. He described the situation as unusual because Nigerians were, for the first time, prepared to give a politician power without demanding the conventional political incentives linked to elections.

Okonkwo offered a more favorable description of Atiku, calling him a benevolent, good and humane leader who would continue pursuing the presidency to give Nigerians what he viewed as the benefits of his leadership. His assessment of Tinubu was sharply different: he called the president the “worst leader” Nigeria would ever have. Obi finished third behind Tinubu and Atiku in the 2023 presidential election and has remained a prominent opposition figure linked to the Nigerian Democratic Congress ahead of 2027.

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If you tell me to describe Atiku, I will say benevolent leader that doesn’t want to give up until he ensures the nation has a taste of the benevolence.