Obi may have won in twelve states in the election, but he didnt deserve those votes. The votes from his South-East states were suspect, dubious and unconvincing. They were without a doubt, falsely generated to shore up votes, to level up with areas where they envisaged he would suffer a shortfall and deficit, because he had no control of those areas. The percentage of attendance recorded in the South- Eastern states were contradictory to the realities that dominated public discourse before the election: IPOB was not predisposed to election conduct in the South- East, the unwholesome activities of unknown gunmen had turned the South-East into a theatre of war with cakes of crimson. It was a frightful reality that painted an ugly picture of a geopolitical zone whose economy had been badly affected by intermittent warfare and several stay-at-home orders, the rivers of blood in the South-East and the number of INEC offices that were burnt on a regular basis created apathy for the election; going into that election with such subcurrent was in itself a bad omen for a zone that has long yearned for presidency. Blood after blood, it was an atmosphere of suspense, fear, killings, and arson; such were the visible tell-tales of the zone. If that was a strategy to chase other contestants away, it may then be said that it has amounted to Peter Obi swimming in the pool of blood of those who were killed, so as to birth his presidency. I don’t think that would sit well in his consciousness.
