An ally of former Labour Party National Chairman Julius Abure, Pita Michael Piper, has accused Peter Obi of taking over the Obidient Movement, insisting that the group was originally created by civil society organisations and not by the former Anambra State governor.
Piper made the remarks while addressing journalists in a video from 1:46 aired by Symfoni TV on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Responding to questions surrounding the ownership and origin of the movement, Piper stated that the Obidient Movement existed before Peter Obi became associated with it during the 2023 presidential election campaign.
“And here I want to ask you to answer your question directly. The Obidient movement was never formed by Peter Obi. The Obidient movement was a construct of the civil society movements,” he said.
According to him, several civil society groups had already been operating under the movement long before Obi emerged on the political scene. “And these civil society movements have been on this far, far, far before Peter Obi came on board. Now, I have the documents here to prove it,” Piper stated.
He displayed what he described as official registration documents of the movement, including a certificate and constitution, claiming that the organisation was formally registered in 2023 under the name “Obidient for a Better Nigeria.”
“Here is the certificate of the Obidient movement. It was registered since 2023. And it was registered as Obidient for a Better Nigeria, Obidient with an E,” he said.
Piper also presented what he described as the constitution and application documents of the group, stressing that the spelling of “Obidient” was intentional and not directly linked to Peter Obi’s name.
“Here is the constitution of the Obidient movement since 2023. And here what you see is the Obidient with an E, not an I. So when we say that the Obidient movement was hijacked and stolen, it’s not a false allegation,” he stated.
He further linked the movement’s name to the lyrics of Nigeria’s former national anthem, arguing that the inspiration came from the phrase “Nigeria’s call obey.”
“And it was predicated on the former national anthem. If you remember the former national anthem, it says, ‘Arise, all compatriots.’ So the comrades, the compatriots, we arose,” Piper said.
“What was the second line? ‘Nigeria’s call obey.’ So we rose up to the call of Nigeria to obey Nigeria. The former national anthem didn’t say Nigerians call Obi. It said, ‘Nigeria’s call obey,’” he added….Read_More…