2027: Why Coalition strategy of pairing Atiku with Peter Obi will be ineffective
2027; Why Coalition strategy of pairing Atiku with Peter Obi will be ineffective
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation, has stated that the coalition strategy aimed at uniting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Labour Party candidate Peter Obi for the 2027 presidential election is unlikely to succeed.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics,” Keyamo argued that the factors that led to Obi’s millions of votes in the 2023 election would be nullified if he were to run as Abubakar’s running mate.
In the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured second place with 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi came in third with 6,101,533 votes.
The election was won by now-President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 8,794,726 votes.
Keyamo dismissed the proposed coalition, reportedly involving the African Democratic Congress (ADC), as having no significant electoral impact.
He characterised the strategy to combine Obi’s and Abubakar’s support to challenge the APC’s vote base as “unrealistic.”
Keyamo said: “They (ADC) are going nowhere in terms of demography.
“I like what is happening; they are putting us on our toes. It is going to make us work harder, but the numbers are not looking good for them.
“This so-called ADC, in 2027, what they are working on is to bring Peter Obi and Atiku together to join those numbers and beat our over eight million votes.
“Let me tell you why it is wrong. If you make Peter Obi the deputy to Atiku… three demographic factors delivered Peter Obi in 2023, but the three will collapse.
“The other candidates were Muslims, and so there was only one Christian candidate, and the Christians went to one candidate.
“The south-east felt cheated, so the south-east went to one point because of the Igbo man.
“And the third demography: the Obidients, young Nigerians who felt they were angry, they wanted a younger person and all of that because the other candidates were older than him (Obi).”
The minister further contended that Peter Obi’s political reach in the north is limited, asserting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) maintains a strong and unassailable position in the region.
“If you put Peter Obi this time as president, he cannot penetrate the north. We have our structures in the north. We have governors, senators in the north,” Keyamo added.
