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The Mischievous Crowd!!
By Dr jarlat Uche opara
The crowd can be innocently mischievous.
At times playful, at times cruel,stirring emotions, scripting rivalries, and pitching men against one another without uttering a single word.
Peter Obi and Professor Chukwuma Soludo have, over time, become recurring characters in this theatre of crowd mischief. Unconsciously, the crowd fuels rifts, fertilizes silent anger, and provokes psychological combat—especially in the mind of the one seemingly diminished by comparison to the one endlessly cheered.
It has become a recurrent decimal. Each time Peter Obi and Professor Soludo attend the same public function, despite the latter being the sitting governor, the former often steals the moment. Not by speech. Not by orchestration. But by the raw, organic response of the people. The crowd tilts the spotlight, and in doing so, writes a narrative no protocol can control.
This script replayed itself during the dedication of the Cathedral of the Nnewi Catholic Diocese. The affection was massive. The cheers were unfiltered. The ovation lingered longer than etiquette allows. Applause erupted, deafening, persistent, unashamed.
It was not rehearsed. It was not rented. It was emotion in its purest civic form.
Peter is the deal.
Obi is the product.
Gregory is the brand.
And therein lies the deeper signal.
2027 is not just approaching—it is pregnant. Heavy with expectations, hopes, and unresolved longings. The messianic image many project onto Obi has not thinned, not faded, not weaned. If anything, the crowd continues to nurture it, feeding it with cheers, ovations, and symbolic affirmations at every public crossing.
Crowds are rarely neutral.
They are mirrors of collective desire, sometimes unfair, sometimes prophetic. And whether mischievous or mindful, one truth remains: when the crowd consistently chooses a symbol, it is no longer noise, it is a message.
Jarlathuche@gmail.com