- While Obi is not a new face in Nigerian politics, the outcome of the 2023 presidential election has added a few more notches to his political belt and catapulted him straight to the top of the mainstream of Nigerian politics
Ours is the most fractious polity on the African continent. On many occasions, the major actors who prowl the corridor of power have amplified our fragile faultlines, leveraged and lived true to our social, religious and regional make-up with beastly precision. Though the 2027 election is still some eighteen months away, the political horse-trading and forging of alliances that characterise the build-up to general elections in Nigeria have begun in earnest.
While President Bola Tinubu is making moves to consolidate his power and win re-election, opposition parties are also plotting to oust him from office. To unseat Tinubu, politicians from opposition parties are mulling a coalition. Though the coalition talks are still in the early days, one man has been in the thick of things as oppositions strategize on how to win the 2027 presidential election. The man is Peter Obi. While Obi is not a new face in Nigerian politics, the outcome of the 2023 presidential election has added a few more notches to his political belt and catapulted him straight to the top of the mainstream of Nigerian politics.
His popularity and acceptability among many Nigerians, especially young people, have made him the face of the coalition even though there are many other political heavyweights like the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai and former vice president. However, the chatter about the coalition seems to revolve around him and this has become a problem for him, a good problem though. Even To become the president Obi may be forced to make some uncomfortable choices.
Among all the politicians in the coalition, Obi is the only one who has a cult following, which is needed to mount a serious challenge for the presidency. However, the unflinching support Obi gets from his die-hards and hardliners is rooted in his own personal disposition of good governance, altruism, selflessness, empathy and compassion. Hence, it is their belief that anyone he will be working with, especially as it regards the selection of his vice president, must embody this quality and trait.
But speculation coming out of the coalition grapevine has sparked some rumble in the Obidients camp, with many of them threatening to either distance themselves from Obi or even work against and undermine his ambition if the rumours are anything to go by. The feelers we are getting now is that Obi/El-Rufai ticket may be under consideration, this was after reports emerged that the Atiku/Obi ticket, a reenactment of their outing during the 2019 presidential election, is also in the offing
While all these are mere speculation, permutation, calculation and scheming, many Obi supporters, especially those from the Middle Belt, have vehemently opposed the mere suggestion of El-Rufai as running mate to Obi, citing his unscrupulous disposition and cutthroat tendency, coupled with his treatment of South Kaduna people when he was Kaduna governor. Some have opined that for Obi to actualise his dream of becoming Nigeria’s president, he needs to pick a northern politician with clout and influence, someone who commands respect among average northerners and can swing the votes of the core north in his favour.
The problem here is that the only politician who still has considerable political clout and enjoys some sort of cult following is former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso. But Kwankwaso is not keen on being part of a coalition to unseat Tinubu. If anything, he is instead pitching his tent with the APC to secure re-election for his party, NNPP, in Kano. While the suggestion of Obi as a running mate to Atiku is grudgingly accepted by some Obidients, many have kicked against it, saying Obi is no longer vice presidential material but presidential material.
If Obi puts politics over the feelings of his supporters and picks El-Rufai as a running mate, he risks alienating the majority of his followers and the core of his support base and will likely lose the election without them. If he chooses to run as a vice to Atiku, he risks drawing the ire of Southerners who want the power to remain in the South for eight years after eight years of Muhammadu Buhari.
It’s a conundrum and complex political maze to navigate. But one thing he must not take for granted is the support of his followers, and he must take into account their feelings and concerns when making decisions and dealings regarding the path he wanted for 2027.
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