In a statement issued on Monday, POMR spokesman Ibrahim Umar said it was “privy to the various schemes being put in place clandestinely to limit Obi’s freedom,” alleging a pattern of restrictions targeting the former presidential candidate.
The group cited “recent and recurring reports of Peter Obi being prevented from speaking at public institutions,” highlighting the cancellation of his scheduled lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University and “similar incidents at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and other public institutions.”
According to POMR, “This worrisome development is not an isolated administrative hiccup; but a symptom of a deepening democratic malaise.” It added that the incidents form “a disturbing pattern occurring over 10 times in recent months—where public institutions, including his alma mater, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), have revoked platforms for the presidential aspirant at the eleventh hour.”
The statement stressed that universities are traditionally the “marketplace of ideas,” noting they are “intended to be sanctuaries for critical thinking, rigorous debate, and the free exchange of perspectives,” but alleged that “in an attempt to suppress our principal’s, public institutions are succumbing to external political pressures and intimidation.”
Quoting Obi, the media office said “such occurrences now point to a troubling pattern that should concern all well-meaning Nigerians,” adding that “Universities and other public institutions of learning must remain platforms where ideas can be shared freely without restriction.”
POMR further noted what it described as a contradiction, stating, “the irony is stark that while Mr Obi has been welcomed to speak freely at notable global centres of excellence—including Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, and Yale—within his own country, the doors of public learning are increasingly being bolted.”
“This disparity raises a critical question: What is the state of a nation that fears the dialogue of its own citizens within its own halls of learning?” the statement queried.
The group called on “the administrative heads of public institutions and the relevant governing bodies to resist political intimidation and uphold the sanctity of academic freedom,” warning that “a country that silences its thinkers and its leaders within its ivory towers is a country that risks intellectual and social stagnation.”
It concluded by stating, “We stand for an open Nigeria where the ‘force of argument’ always supersedes the ‘argument of force.’”