Human rights activist and social commentator, Segun Awosanya, popularly known as Segalink, has faulted the presidential ambition of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Peter Obi, saying the former Anambra State governor lacks the leadership qualities needed to govern Nigeria.
Speaking during an interview on Vanguard Politics Hub, Awosanya accused Obi of building his political influence around public frustration rather than offering the kind of leadership capable of uniting the country.
According to him, Obi’s politics thrive on outrage and the activities of an online support base, which he described as a “mob”.
“It is obvious to the blind and audible to the deaf, that somebody who is playing to the gallery, who postures as one thing and is actually another, should be revealed for who they are,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned, Peter Obi is just a leader of the mob, somebody who is surfing the wave of the angry people… to demonise people and blackmail people in order to gain attention to themselves, and then bully themselves into political power.”
Awosanya dismissed suggestions that his criticism was motivated by disagreements with supporters of the Obidient movement, insisting he had no personal issues with them.
“There’s no friction between me and anybody. I don’t even recognise them as anything. I’m focused on what I’m doing,” he said.
He also alleged that members of the Obidient movement attempted to exploit the #EndSARS protests for political advantage but failed.
“If you look at the antecedent of the Obidient group, they were one of the cancerous nodes within the EndSARS advocacy… they wanted to use the movement for their own game. And when they failed, they demonised everybody within the system,” he claimed.
Explaining why he had once praised Obi, Awosanya said his earlier remarks were based solely on the former governor’s comments on issues affecting vulnerable Nigerians and should not be interpreted as political support.
“When I commended Peter Obi, I commended him because he was at the time speaking to issues that border on vulnerable individuals in the country,” he said, adding that the remarks were “not promotion” but an honest assessment.
Awosanya, however, argued that his subsequent assessment of Obi changed after examining what he described as the former governor’s divisive political record.
“When I eventually conclude that he cannot be president is because of his divisiveness. He brought Christians against Catholics when he was governor, and he did a lot of things that he’s preaching against today. Evidence are there,” he said.
He concluded by cautioning Nigerians against accepting popular narratives on social media as facts, saying, “The fact that the lie is viral doesn’t make it the truth.”