Opinion
By Chibuisi MBA
BY the time the sun set on Monday, Nigeria had learned something about itself again. And it was not a flattering thing.
The presidency has lost its voice. 24 hours came and went and there was nothing. No line, no card, no two-sentence courtesy to Peter Obi on his birthday. The Senate President, who never misses an opportunity to take a swipe at Obi on the floor, suddenly developed selective muteness. Even Adams Oshiomhole, a man known for speaking first and thinking later, was seen “consulting” on how to handle a birthday wish.
Let that sink in. In a country of 230 million people, we cannot manage a simple “happy birthday” without doing political algebra first.
Politics should not break our humanity. Leadership is by example. And on this day, our leaders failed at every front.
The South East Had a Test
It was not about roads. It was not about budgets. It was not about security votes.
The South East had one small test. Public decency.
And only one of five Igbo governors showed up. Alex Otti of Abia posted. He did not write an essay. He did not add conditions. He simply acknowledged a prominent son of the East on his day. In that one act, Otti saved the day for the region’s image.
The silence from the other four was loud enough to echo in every secondary school classroom from Aba to Awka to Enugu to Owerri to Abakaliki.
Because this is not about cake and balloons. In Nigerian politics, a public greeting is a signal. It says, “We may differ, but we are still family. We are still Ndigbo first.”
When four governors decide that signal is too dangerous to send, what are we teaching our children? That brotherhood ends at the gate of Abuja? That culture bows to calculation?
Why Did They Abandon Him?
The answer is ugly, but it is simple. Fear, calculation, and old grudges.
Charles Soludo and Obi have been in a cold war for years. It began with debates about economic theory and savings, and it curdled into something personal. For Soludo to wish Obi now would feel like surrender, and he does not do surrender in public.
Hope Uzodinma runs Imo under the APC banner. To his credit, he has kept a measured tone with Obi when others went for the jugular. But 2026 is not 2023. With 2027 in view, a birthday post would be clipped, circulated in Abuja WhatsApp groups, and labeled as disloyalty. So he chose institutional caution over cultural courtesy.
Peter Mbah came in with big promises. The technocrat. The data man. The one who would do politics differently in Enugu. Many of us believed him. But on Monday he chose the safest politics there is, silence. That is the technocrat’s trap, the belief that if you say nothing, you are neutral. You are not. Silence in a moment that demands voice is a choice.
In Ebonyi, the shadow is even longer. Governor Francis Nwifuru governs with David Umahi watching from the center. Umahi, now Minister, has made it a project to challenge Obi publicly, even calling for a debate. In that environment, a birthday greeting from Ebonyi was never going to happen.
The Man They Ignored Showed Us How
And what did Obi do in return? He showed the maturity we beg our leaders to have.
Yesterday he was in the home of Rotimi Amaechi, to condole with him over the death of his mother. Days before that, he was with Isaac Fayose, after Fayose was attacked by some Obidients for the crime of dining with Seyi Tinubu.
Think about that. You can oppose a man’s politics and still honor his grief. You can disagree with a dinner and still stand against mob justice. That is politics without bitterness. That is leadership that does not wait for cameras.
This is the contrast the children are seeing. Four governors who could not type 20 words. One man who keeps showing up for people even when it costs him.
What This Day Really Cost Us
The South East cannot keep chanting “Igbo bu Igbo” in town halls and practicing “every man for himself” in government houses.
We have real problems that do not check party ID before they strike. Insecurity is killing our traders and farmers. Our roads are collapsing. Federal allocation continues to shortchange the region. Our young people are leaving in droves.
None of that gets fixed by five governors acting like five islands. It gets fixed when we remember we share a roof.
If we want different politics, then we must start punishing pettiness and rewarding courage. The church must speak louder than the talking heads on TV. Traditional rulers must convene and remind our leaders who they are. And voters must look a politician in the eye in 2027 and ask, “When it mattered, whose side of humanity were you on?”
Abuja will forget these governors tomorrow. The center always does. But history will not forget what they did to their own brother on his birthday.
Alex Otti did the right thing. The rest now owe the next generation an explanation.
Because on Obi’s birthday, we did not just miss a greeting. We exposed ourselves.
A new Nigeria is possible, and it is coming.
***Hon. Chibuisi Mba is the national coordinator, OKAY A NEW NIGERIA
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A.I
July 22, 2026
Tags: Chibuisi MBA Peter Obi