Abia State residents at a campaign rally organised in support of President Bola Tinubu were surprised when the crowd unexpectedly broke into chants of PETER OBI! PETER OBI!!

Reports suggest that residents were mobilised, allegedly with financial incentives, to attend the rally organised by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Imagine organising a rally, spending money to mobilise a crowd, only for the opposition’s name to become the biggest attraction of the day!

Thank you, Abians! You have reminded politicians that you can mobilise the people, but you cannot dictate what is in their hearts.

Meanwhile, in Rivers State, the political drama appears to have taken another interesting turn.

The supporters of the rainbow coalition are reportedly struggling to showcase pictures and videos of their rally, with claims that they couldn’t fill the 40,000-capacity stadium built during the administration of Rotimi Amaechi, the same man Nyesom Wike has never been shy about criticising.

And the street gist? Some attendees allegedly removed their campaign caps and outfits immediately after leaving the venue. Whether that part is true or not, the political embarrassment being discussed online is another story entirely!

Nigerian politicians need to understand one thing: a crowd at a rally is not necessarily a crowd of supporters, and a rented crowd cannot automatically translate into votes.