There is a strong indication that the former Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi will dump his party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the 2027 presidential election. There have been several talks and meetings within and outside the party suggesting his days are numbered in Labour Party, despite his reassuring steps and words in the last few months.
At the moment, Mr Obi has been receiving visitors. He has been holdings stakeholders meeting across the board. He has been planning with the major political leaders especially from the north, whose majority are from other parties. …CONTINUE READING
In the last few months, Peter Obi has met twice with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was the presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in the last 4 presidential elections.
And this is what City People found out. According to a prominent PDP member who pleaded for anonimity, he said “you know PDP as a party has been in crisis even before the last general elections. Some of the key members didn’t want the party ticket to go to north after Buhari’s 8 years as President. We all wanted a Southern candidate but Atiku Abubakar got it as usual.”
“The core PDP members who are pushing for a southern agenda in the next election are still in the party. We have been having series of consultations, deliberations and meetings. We have even formed a strong caucus to make this a reality. Some of us have met with Peter Obi and we have suggested to him to come back to the party and become the PDP standard bearer in the presidential election. We are aware he’s still in Labour Party but he knows that for him to really get close and attain power in 2027, he needs to come back to PDP. We believed that the Obidients members aren’t really Labour Party members. It is a movement piloted by Obi, so they move where he moves. And we have realized that”, he said.
He also said that, Atiku is not sellable and may be unfit to run in 2027 considering his age. As he would be a few months to 80 years in the next presidential election in 2027. And if he does tries to contest, he would be breaking a record for his age.
Again, (Atiku) has also been struggling with his extra luggage. He doesn’t have clean records. Nigerians do not particularly accept him.
But the key party people in the PDP aren’t sure of Atiku relinquishing the ticket despite what he told BBC Hausa in an interview a few months back.
In the said interview, Atiku said that if in 2027, the party decides that it is the South-East’s turn and selects Peter Obi as its candidate, he will readily offer his support. He said:
“I have said repeatedly and I even said it before the 2023 general elections that if the PDP decides to zone the presidential ticket to the South or South-East specifically, I won’t contest it. As long as it’s the decision of the party, I will abide by it. But I contested the 2023 presidential ticket because it was thrown open to all members of the party.
“If the party decides that it’s the turn of the South-East and Peter Obi is chosen, I won’t hesitate to support him,” Atiku declared in a recent interview with BBC Hausa Service.
He added that a merger between the PDP and Labour Party is possible.
Atiku added that members of the party would decide his fate in the 2027 general elections”.
Will Atiku Abubakar let go despite his 5 failed attempts?
The core PDP members believe, Atiku is the major problem they have in the party. They belive the party would have restructured to compete favorably in a political election. According to another insider who believes Atiku will never concede to Peter Obi to run under the PDP unless if he wants to come back and vie for Vice President, “Atiku feels he’s bigger, experienced more than anyone.
Peter Obi on the other hand has held several meetings with key PDP members and even Atiku in the last few months but haven’t reached a reasonable conclusion. We heard that the two men have kept their game plans close to their chest and there are still possibilities for both to reach a positive conclusion before 2027. But we were told, there will be alignment and realignment before the 2027 elections but no one knows who and what will shift ground for others.
We also heard that, Peter Obi, may be backed by the north but if he would only run for one term. This is one of the conditions he needs to quickly respond to before dumping the Labour Party for the Peoples Democratic Party.
In the last few months, his party (LP) has been in and out of various crisis which hasn’t been settled and it is becoming a big concern for Mr Obi, as the embattled Labour Party Chairman, Julius Abure, is set to fight it out with Peter Obi and has told Peter Obi that the presidential ticket is no longer reserved for him.
A few weeks back, Mr Abure said the 2027 presidential ticket is now open to all members.
He said, “NEC in session also reviewed the decision of the National Convention to reserve its Presidential and Governorship tickets for Peter Gregory Obi and Alex Otti, respectively.
“Consequently, all party tickets from the Presidency to the House of Assemblies are open to all qualified Nigerians”.
Well meaning Nigerians have pleaded to Peter Obi to dump the party and that is why the possibility of him going back is on the high side.
Just a few months ago Peter Obi revealed that there are policies meant to distract the Labour Party and revealed what he might do if the crisis persists.
According to him, the contrived crisis in the Labour Party was part of a distractive strategy, which neither he nor his supporters were willing to fall for.
Obi said, “Our engagement is about Nigeria, they are trying to change our focus. What we want to do is not about Labour Party; it is about what the Obidients want to do about Nigeria.
”We are thinking about water, we are thinking about power, we are thinking about employment, thinking about security. That should be our focus.
“The other matter we will deal with. We were somewhere, we didn’t start with Labour.
“I’m a Christian. Jesus said, When you go into a city, try to change them, live with them, fast with them. in the end, you can’t come out and even wash the sand that is on your shoes.
“He didn’t say go there and die with them. I tell you, I’m making spirited efforts to change them (LP), but I’m not going to die with them
“That will not stop what we set out to do. We will try to change them (LP), if we can’t, we will leave them; we will not die with them.”
– Isaac Abimbade, City People
