Professor Pat Utomi is one of the brightest Nigerians I love and respect. We still spoke two days ago when he called me. He delivered a speech at my 40th birthday lecture some 25 years ago. I truly admired him as a young man who managed Volkswagen Nigeria in those good old days, and I have followed his trajectory ever since. He is a man of immense passion whose theoretical knowledge of the rise of the Asian Tigers is quite fascinating and tempting. But that is where my romance with him ends.
I believe he has infected my very dear brother, Peter Obi, with his romanticisation of Asian countries and their obvious developmental successes. My candid view is that every nation must develop its own organic strategies, even while studying and borrowing ideas and ideals from elsewhere. Nigeria’s topography is an abnormal configuration. For example, Gani Fawehinmi, Utomi, Obi, Femi Falana, Shehu Sani, Omoyele Sowore and others should be able to win elections and become our own Barack Obama, but not here. Primordial sentiments rule the game.
This is why the above statement credited to my egbon, Pat, and his like minds often breaks my heart. He seems not to have learnt from his own personal experience and example that “big grammar” does not win elections. Donald Trump is back today because the Republicans needed him, warts and all, to neutralise Kamala Harris. Pure and simple. It is not about zoning or who is more brilliant, or elegant. The key word is reality. The APC had a far more fascinating, cerebral, eloquent and respectable Yemi Osinbajo when it chose Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its flagbearer in 2023.
I am therefore disappointed and flabbergasted at the total lack of political practicality on the part (no pun intended) of Pat Utomi, who has been a serial victim of Nigeria’s electoral process. Anyone insisting that Obi cannot run behind anyone is definitely not a democrat who truly wishes to rescue Nigeria from one-man dictatorship.
In 2019, one visionary gentleman, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, placed Obi on the national platform against the wishes of many governors and PDP stakeholders. Obi should be encouraged to be a humble party man.