Obidient Movement and Political Change in Nigeria: The Journey So Far.

Abstract

The failure of successive governments to bring about inclusive governance through credible elections has always been the bane of youth restiveness in most part of the country. This accounted for the reasons why all and sundry especially the youths have taken the bull by the horn in an attempt to change the status quo in the political landscape of Nigeria. This paper focuses on the emergence of the Obidient Movement to mobilize support for the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi in the 2023 general elections and how it has altered the political trajectory in the Country. The paper relied on secondary data sources and adopted the Resource Mobilization Theory as a framework of analysis. This study found out that the emergence of Mr. Peter Obi reawakened the political interest of majority of Nigerians, especially the millennial, lead to massive mobilization of support from Nigerians at home and abroad, and that the Peter Obi effect lead to the political fortunes of many candidates that contested in the general elections on the platform of the Labour Party. Importantly, this study discovered that a mass movement with little history behind its existence could alter the political trajectory of the Country as result of the general disenchantment by the citizens towards the present crop of leaders. It was recommended amongst other things that the Obidient Movement should sustain the tempo of its activities across the country even after the general elections to keep the elected office holders on their toes, establish strong presence in every part of Nigeria to ensure a holistic restructuring of the Country leading to the emergence of new crop of leaders committed to the provision of the dividends of good governance.