Obidient Movement to Onanuga: What will you do if Peter Obi fails to watch his mouth

Obidient Movement, a political group which supported the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last general election, Mr Peter Obi has warned presidential spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga against threatening their principal.

Onanuga had in a tweet on X, a social media platform warned Obi to watch his mouth, after he said during a colloquium to mark the 60th birthday of former governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, that democracy had collapsed in Nigeria, under President Bola Tinubu.

A press statement by Director of Strategic Communications & Media, Obidient Movement, Nana Kazaure cautioned Onanuga against muzzling free speech.

The statement read in part: “As a Movement, we take serious exception to the uncouth threat by this choleric presidential spokesman whose antecedents as an instigator of intolerance and division are well known, recorded and documented.

“Having taken note of Mr. Onanuga's threat, we ask him the question: “watch his mouth.. or what? What exactly are Onanuga's plan for H.E. Peter Obi? Or put more directly, what sinister plans has the Tinubu administration for its critics whose ranks swell daily on account of the administration's cluelessness, and inability to provide sound and qualitative governance for Nigerians?

“We submit that if the Tinubu administration had invested a quarter of the energy and resources it expends in hounding and demonizing varying opinions through its intemperate spokespersons and numerous cyber Rottweilers, Nigeria would be a far more decent and conducive place to live in.

“Unfortunately, we are stuck with a government high on talk but miserably low on action or any iota of progress.”

The group said the threats to Obi should not be discountenanced as Onanuga has previously been noted for inviting people against Obi.

He said: “As millions of Nigerians struggle to come to terms with the hardship, insecurity and dislocation foisted on the nation by 10 years of APC misrule, the least that is expected of minions like Mr. Onanuga is to hide their heads in deep reflection on their pathetic complicity in bringing a once thriving country to its knees.

“The threat issued to H.E. Peter Obi whilst completely in character, should not at all be discountenanced for as the 2023 elections showed, inciting words from highly placed APC officials including Mr. Onanuga himself helped to unleash violence, murder and destruction, as well as ethnic hatred from which Nigeria has yet to recover.

“We are therefore putting Nigerians and the international community on strong notice that should any harm of any sort befall H.E. Peter Obi, his family or any of his associates, these culprits who have clearly identified themselves by their vitriolic speech, will be held entirely responsible.”