Here is why some Obidients have intensified their propaganda against Soludo

Make no mistake about this: Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has a very strong social media propaganda machine. The playbook of Mr. Obi’s most vociferous supporters is simple: they repeat lies and amplify negative narratives against their victims so many times on social media – in many cases with trending hashtags – to the level that these repeated false narratives start sounding like truths to unsuspecting members of the public. This is pure psychology. They know that repeating a lie many times makes it seem true due to what psychologists call the ‘’illusionary truth effect’’. With this playbook, they have been able to make some unsuspecting apolitical Nigerians sympathetic to their cause. They have also gained some fanatical following.

Mr. Obi’s social media machine is well oiled. Today, the national coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Dr Yunusa Tanko, is being groomed by Mr. Obi. Obi takes him along to high profile gatherings. Mr. Obi seems to be introducing him to the high and mighty. Obi does not joke with his loyal social media warriors. He makes it a point of duty to attend their weddings, child dedications and social events. They are also well-resourced. He gives them a sense of belonging that encourages them to fight his perceived political rivals. They have a way of portraying Mr. Obi as a saint. They also have their way of boosting social media posts in favor of their principal – Mr. Peter Obi. The day Valentine Ozigbo left Peter Obi was the day his tweets stopped getting thousands – if not millions – of impressions. His last tweet on X in the last 24 hours still has less than 170 impressions.

Obidients have been instructed to declare war on Governor Chukwuma Soludo and throw their weight behind Mr. George Moghalu, the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in the Anambra November election. And since the news of the communique of the meeting held amongst Mr. Peter Obi, some Obidients and Mr. George Moghalu was made public, some online social media warriors have intensified their propaganda against Governor Soludo. Coordinators of various Obidient movements have been having numerous meetings in Awka.

The Obidient mob have launched an online war against Soludo. They intentionally try to talk down all Governor Soludo’s achievements. Take for example the newly commissioned world-class fun city in Awka which currently makes Awka boast of over 40,000 new visitors every weekend and is having massive multiplier effect on the economy of the city. Unfortunately, some Obidients have made it a point of duty to de-market this facility. They get angry anytime Anambra makes progress because they fear that their principal’s legacy might be outshined. They seem to be pained that Governor Soludo has fought insecurity in Anambra to a standstill. When Soludo does well, it deprives them of their ‘talking points’. They doctor pictures online to give the impression that the thousands of kilometers of roads being constructed in Anambra are inferior. Last Thursday, after Governor Soludo received three international awards at the 2025 Global Power Forum in New York, held alongside the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), one Obidient poured out his venom on the organizers of this prestigious award. He was pained. This is propaganda and hate taken to a different level.

The propaganda against Soludo has no end nor limit. A few days ago, some well-known Obidients made a fabricated story attributed to Professor Fabian Osuji, a former Minister of Education, to go viral: ‘’am thoroughly embarrassed about the level of hostility being exhibited by our brother and friend Prof Charles Soludo towards Peter Obi. He cannot claim to be self-made. People like us participated in making him. I was Pro-chancellor and Chairman of Council at the University of Nigeria [UNN] when his papers came for approval for Professorship. I could have found reason to withhold or deny assent, but we put him out and praised his work. That made President Obasanjo appoint him Economic Adviser without hesitation’’. The late Professor Osuji, who died in 2024 at 82 years, was chairman of UNN council between 2000 and 2003 and Professor Soludo was made a professor of economics in 1998. Besides, University councils do not assess academic publications!

These Obidients did not stop at that false narrative. Last week, they made the narrative that Peter Obi left Anambra as the best state in education in 2013 and that Governor Soludo has taken the state to number 33 in national ranking to trend and go viral. They intentionally made the badly conducted research by Philips Consulting Limited (PCL), which ranked Anambra as number 33 in education and 30 in terms of public health quality, to go viral. Not only was that report or research flawed in methodology and content, it seemed to have fabricated some data. But the Obidients did not care because the inaccurate report suited their narrative. How can a state which just won $1.2 million in cash as the best state in primary healthcare in the 2024 Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge Awards be rated number 30 in a report conducted by ‘a rating agency’ within the same period? (Primary Healthcare Leadership Challenge Awards is a rigorous public health assessment Programme supported by UNICEF, Dangote Group, NGF, and the Gates Foundation, among others).

Unfortunately, Mr. Peter Obi never made Anambra number one in education as has been publicly claimed by some sections of the media and the Obidients. This is an exaggeration. WAEC and NECO do not rate states. However, states, organizations or individuals could analyze WAEC and NECO results and extract states with the highest percentages of candidates with 5 credits – including math and English (Premium Times just conducted a similar analysis with the 2025 NECO Results). What Peter Obi did was to handover a large number of public schools to their original owners – the catholic church and faith-based missions. Though he continued to provide some grants to these returned schools, he transferred the burden of these schools to the church. Because of this structure, Mr. Obi did not build new schools during his tenure nor recruit large numbers of teachers. This resulted to a state with several communities without public schools and teachers. Besides, in 2014, immediately Mr. Willie Obiano became governor and due to pressure from WAEC, 486 Exam Miracles Centers were closed in Anambra. And after these Exam Miracle Centers, which were aiding exam malpractices, were closed Anambra’s WAEC output plummeted. But Anambra’s WAEC and NECO rating have been gradually rebuilt since 2014.

Obidients are all out to project a positive image of George Moghalu as they have been instructed to. But here is the interesting thing: most of the young people recruited by the Obidient movement to throw their weight behind Mr. George Moghalu know nothing about him. In January 2017, Mr. Moghalu ran for the APC primaries to challenge the then incumbent governor, Willie Obiano. He came third in that primary that had Mr. Tony Nwoye and Andy Uba coming first and second, respectively. Afterwards, in October 2019, he was compensated with an appointment as the managing director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA). And because he had no maritime experience, his performance at NIWA was lackluster. In 2024, Mr. Moghalu left APC after his benefactor and his boss while he was at NIWA, Rotimi Amechi, lost his support base in APC. (Rotimi Amechi was Minister of transport between 2015 – 2022 and NIWA is an agency under the ministry of transport). A year after leaving the APC after his camp lost relevance in the party, Mr. Moghalu saw in the Obidient movement another avenue to actualize his gubernatorial ambitions. In some campaign posters, Mr. Obi’s pictures dwarf his! This column has ample reasons to believe that Mr. Moghalu does not believe in Mr. Obi! He was subsequently granted the party’s ticket by a faction of the party that is not even fully recognized by Mr. Peter Obi.

Here is an advice to Obidients: You can support whoever you wish without telling lies and propagating false narratives. Lies do not stand the test of time!

Nwankwo is the special adviser to Soludo on special projects