Nigerian-American scholar, Prof Farooq Kperogi, has described supporters of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, popularly known as ‘Obi-dients’ as the new ‘Buharists’ Nigerians are witnessing.
Prof Farooq stated this in a series of tweets on Friday.
He criticised Obi’s supporters for their ways of engagements with people who had a different political opinions with them.
He wrote, ““Obi-dients” are the new Buharists. Better get ready for their rank stupidity and pigheadedness should Peter Obi become president. They’re perpetually angry. They’re narrow-minded, verbally primitive, ignorant, tunnel-visioned automatons who think their illiterate trolling can stop people from expressing views that’re contrary to theirs. They constitute a risible horde of unthinking troll brigade on the Internet & are incapable of the most basic level of cognitive complexity. If you’re not one of them, you’re against them.
“If you don’t sacrifice your critical faculty on the altar of Peter Obi political idolatry, you’re against their idol. If you write any favorable article about Obi, you’re an unflinching patriot, but if you do the same for Obi’s opponents, you’re a paid supporter of their idol’s opponents. They live in a world of Manichean binaries. Nuance is a strange concept to them. If Satan were to magically emerge today and endorse Obi, they’ll sanctify Satan as Angel Gabriel and sing his praises. They’re that stupid. They deserve their name. Obedience, after which “Obidience” is modelled, means a dutiful surrender of one’s critical senses to someone in authority, and that’s what Obidients do every waking moment of their miserable lives since they caught the bug of Obimania.
“Postscript: Obi supporters are different from “Obidients.” Obi supporters are merely people who genuinely believe Obi is the best candidate out of the lot and often use the resources of evidence and logic to make their point. Unlike “Obidients,” Obi supporters want to build bridges,” he added.