Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson for the opposition coalition, has confirmed that Peter Obi of the Labour Party has been actively involved with the group since its formation.
Abdullahi who made this known on Wednesday in an interview on Channels Television said: “Peter Obi has been part of the coalition from day one. Peter Obi has attended almost every meeting of the coalition.”
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Abdullahi, the spokesperson for the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC)—the platform adopted by the coalition—further clarified Obi’s current position: “The reason Peter Obi has not come into the ADC as a card-carrying member was because he asked for leave to allow him to complete the election that his people were involved in the Labour Party – the same thing applied to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai – and they were allowed by the leadership to complete the election processes that they started in their respective parties before they come into the ADC.”
Meanwhile, speculations continue to swirl over Obi’s political future. Former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, recently suggested that Obi could soon return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform under which he was a vice presidential candidate in the 2019 elections.
Sheriff claimed that Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the Labour Party’s ticket, is eyeing a return to the PDP ahead of the 2027 polls.
“Atiku has been the vice president of Nigeria. So for him, (it is) president or nothing. Peter Obi ran under the Labour Party. His ambition is to become President,” Sheriff said.
“Information available to me is that any moment from now, Obi would go back to the PDP and run as a presidential candidate under the PDP,” he added.
Despite the involvement of many prominent politicians, Abdullahi refuted assertions that the coalition was merely a launchpad for Atiku Abubakar’s presidential bid.
“What I know for a fact is that Peter Obi is in the coalition. I also know for a fact that this is not an Atiku coalition. Like I have said repeatedly, the ADC is not built on anybody’s ambition.”
He emphasized that the coalition’s objectives are larger than any individual’s political goals.
“What is at stake is much bigger than every individual. I am 56, who says I don’t want to be president?”
The coalition, operating under the ADC umbrella, was formally unveiled on July 1. Key political players such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, among others, have publicly thrown their weight behind the movement.
The coalition has vowed to present a united front with the aim of unseating President Bola Tinubu in the upcoming general election.
