By Adadainfo
THEWILL Newspaper has named the former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi and the ‘OBIdient Movement’, as its Person of the Year 2022, for promoting a new vision for real change in Nigeria.
THEWILL also recognised the founder and chairman/CEO, Dangote Group Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as its Icon of The Year 2022 while the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Prof Mahmood Yakubu, emerged as THEWILL Newspaper’s Democrat of the Year 2022.
Others recognised in the special New Year edition of THEWILL Newspaper include the phenomenal AfroBeat hip-hop artiste, Ahmed Ololade, aka Asake, who emerged as the Entertainer of the Year and Oluwatobi Amusan, Nigeria’s Golden Girl, who held the world spellbound for her superlative performances on the race tracks, who was chosen as the SportsStar of the Year.
Justifying the choice of Obi and the OBIDients as the Person of the Year 2022, THEWILL noted that “Classical historians agree that there comes a time in the history of a people when the man meets the hour or a movement symbolises the communal aspirations for inclusive change,” adding that, “Nigeria appears to be on the cusp of that accepted dictum with the recent emergence of the ‘OBIdient Movement’ and former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the upcoming presidential election on February 25, 2023.
“With a broken political system that promotes mediocrity and self-interested politicians every election cycle, Nigeria’s fortunes hangs in the balance on the eve of a general election this year: With 133 million out of its 200 million population multidimensionally poor, haunted by insecurity of life and property on a daily basis, torn by mutual ethnic mistrust and worn out by anomie, Nigerians are yearning for a viable political alternative that may provide a rope of hope which they can cling to and find a way to reclaim the light in their lives shattered by the failed promises of deceptive politicians.
“It is in this context of a darkened country that the coming of the ‘OBIdient Movement’ and Obi finds place. In traditional Nigerian political parlance, Peter Obi is an Igbo but the ‘OBIdient Movement’ is not an Igbo business. Since May , 2022 when he became the presidential candidate of the LP, he has grown in stature that many Nigerians now see him as a different politician from the prevailing status quo.
“For promoting a new vision for real change, THEWILL Editors unanimously chose Obi and ‘OBIdient Movement’, as our Person of the Year 2022.”
