Obi not dropping presidential ambition – LP

The Labour Party has dismissed speculations that its 2027 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, could step down for any political coalition or rival aspirant, insisting that such a move would betray the hope of millions of Nigerians seeking change.

Reacting to ongoing debates over possible opposition alignments ahead of the next general election, the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Tony Akeni, said withdrawing Obi from the race “is to take away 90 per cent of the hope of Nigerians for redemption and a new beginning.”

Akeni made the clarification in an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH, noting that the party remains committed to contesting the presidency in 2027.

“Forcing Peter Obi to withdraw from the race is to take away 90 per cent of the hope of Nigerians for redemption and a new beginning.
So, I see a situation where we will all come together, stakeholders, and take the right decision at the right time. And that right time is still a little bit far away — close to the primaries,” Akeni stated.

He emphasized that neither Obi nor the Obidient Movement would surrender their presidential bid, stressing that “our motto is forward never, backward never.”

“There is no substitute for the ideology of the Labour Party. And so, we are going head on for the presidency if the right decision is not taken by the coalition,” he said.

Akeni also appealed to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to “prove his love for the country by doing the right thing and giving Peter Obi a chance in 2027.”

“Let Atiku think of what is best for his epitaph. Would he like to be remembered as the man who sacrificed Nigeria for his ambition, yet he didn’t get it, or the man who sacrificed his ambition for Nigeria and took it from the cliff to the pathway of modern progress and advancement?”

He revealed that the AGOBI ’27 (Atiku Givus Obi 2027) coalition was formed by some stakeholders to appeal to Atiku’s conscience and convince him to support Obi’s candidacy as a unifying option for the opposition.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, reaffirmed that the 2027 presidency should remain in the South under Nigeria’s informal rotational arrangement.

“The democracy we practise in Nigeria, as we constitutionally agreed, should be rotated between the North and the South. As we speak today, it is still the turn of the South, whether we like it or not.
And so, if you want to change a southern candidate, you can only replace him with another southern candidate,” Tanko said.