While some of the reactions, particularly those from members of the ruling party, are tinged with mockery, disparagement and derision, many are laced with adulation and laudation of his person and character.

On Sunday, former governor of Anambra State and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election announced his resignation from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Obi announced his resignation in a statement he personally signed on Sunday and shared on his Twitter page. His exit from the party occurred four months after he officially joined.

Obi disclosed that his decision to leave the ADC is not unrelated to the leadership crisis rocking the party and the court cases that are causing considerable uncertainty and apprehension within the party.

He added that those who orchestrated the crises and disputes in the Labour Party and eventually pushed him out of the party are also the ones behind the perennial hostility, leadership tussle and legal disputes in the ADC.

He said “Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me. I will continue to respect them.

“However, the same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems and playing politics built more on control and exclusion than on service and nation-building.”

He disclosed that he and his team were always being scapegoated and vilified for any failure or misunderstanding, adding that the barrage of castigations and insults continued even after he decided to leave the party, so that those he was leaving could have peace.

“Even within spaces where one labours sincerely, one is sometimes treated like an outsider in one’s own home. You and your team become easy targets for every failure, frustration, or misunderstanding, as though honest contribution has become a favour being tolerated rather than appreciated.

“And when you choose to leave so that those you are leaving can have peace, and you step out into the cold, you are still maligned and your character is questioned. Despite all your efforts to continue working for a better Nigeria and engaging people with sincerity and goodwill, those who do not wish you well continue to attack your character and question your intentions,” he said.

He added that he was not desperate to be president but he was desirous of seeing a prosperous Nigeria that works for all, one where Nigerians live a dignified and purposeful life.

“Let me assure all that I am not desperate to be President, Vice President, or Senate President. I am desperate to see a society that can console a mother whose child has been kidnapped or killed while going to school or work. I am desperate to see a Nigeria where people will not live in IDP camps but in their homes. I am desperate for a country where Nigerian citizens do not go to bed hungry, not knowing where their next meal will come from,” he stated.

A couple of days before the announcement of his resignation from the ADC, rumours had begun swirling that he and former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were on their way out of the party. Insiders disclosed that their decision to leave was not unconnected to the party’s decision not to zone its presidential ticket to the south after the resolution at the Ibadan summit to choose its presidential candidate through consensus.

Hours after announcing his exit from the ADC, Obi, alongside Kwankwaso, joined the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).

However, no sooner had Obi announced his exit from the ADC and joining the NDC than reactions began to greet his decision. Nigerians, including the presidency and staunch members of the ruling party, besieged his social media pages, especially X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their views, perspectives and opinions on the defection. While some of the reactions, particularly those from members of the ruling party, are tinged with mockery, disparagement and derision, many are laced with adulation and laudation of his person and character.

Below are some of the reactions.

Reacting to Obi’s defection from the ADC to the NDC, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, described him as a political nomad, calling his defection an easy road that would lead to doom.

https://x.com/i/status/2050918172685914506

Another media aide of President Tinubu, Daniel Bwala, labelled Obi a pathological liar and described him as a temu presidential aspirant

In his reaction, Japhet Omojuwa, a staunch supporter of Tinubu and traducer of Obi, taunted Obi for deflecting from and joining three parties in five months, insinuating that such action reeks of desperation despite Obi’s claim to the contrary.

Obi’s associate and interim coordinator of the Obidient movement, Tanko Yunusa, stated that the focus of the movement and that of Obi is to salvage Nigeria from its current situation.

A Twitter user simply identified as Kachi expressed concern over the emotional state of Obi, noting that the former governor sounded frustrated.

An X user with a moniker Buchi Lala opined that Obi should not have joined the ADC as it is filled with the very people that plunged Nigeria into the current mess it is in