Peter Obi, Atiku: Stakeholders Invalidate Merger Talks

The former PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has been cautioned against any proposed alliance with LP ahead of the 2027 election.

Stakeholders in the political sphere said Atiku can’t form any coalition that would oust President Bola Tinubu from power in 2027, despite the leadership crisis within the PDP, LP, and New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.

Since the 2023 presidential election, the PDP has been battling with a leadership crisis as factions jostle over the position of the National Chairman of the party, and the same scenario plays out in the Labour Party.

DAILY POST reports that the internal crisis within the NNPP led to the suspension of the Kano State Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, and the Commissioner of Transportation, Muhammad Diggol.

The party chairman, Hashim Sulaiman Dungurawa, said the suspension followed alleged disrespect to the party, abuse of power, office, and disloyalty to the party. In July, aggrieved members of the party also disowned Kwankwaso because they claimed he was a threat to the party.

In January, political scientist Pat Utomi had announced that he consulted with PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, LP’s Peter Obi, and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso on the possibility of forming a new political party.

Recently, Utomi affirmed that Atiku, Kwankwaso, and Obi have agreed to form a political party that would oust President Bola Tinubu from power in 2027.

Dismissing the remark, the All Progressives Congress, APC, National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, described Utomi’s disclosure as an “unmitigated delusion of grandeur.”

Morka said: “As a serial promoter of mega parties that never materialized, Prof. Pat Utomi’s statement cannot be taken that seriously.”

Amid these internal wranglings among parties and Utomi’s declaration, Atiku Abubakar, Obi, and Kwankwaso are holding alliance talks with some other political stakeholders on the possible merger.

Stressing that the opposition leaders are in talks, Atiku’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Paul Ibe, told DAILY POST: “When you are going to birth an alliance like this it won’t be on the pages of newspapers, it will be away from the media glare.

“I can assure you that the process is ongoing, all of the stakeholders and various leaders have recognized the imperative of that alliance to forge a united front to recover Nigeria from these people just toiling with the lives and destiny of Nigerians. They are committed to that and the process is ongoing.”

When quizzed on Atiku, Kwankwaso, and Obi’s involvement in the alliance, he said: “The opposition leaders are talking, they have begun the process. The opposition leaders have commenced the process that would birth the alliance.”

However, the Director General of Heritage Centre, a think tank dedicated to research into economics, politics, and opinions, Katchi Ononuju, dismissed the possibility of a merger.

Only Kwankwaso interested in a merger with Obi

Speaking with DAILY POST, the PDP chieftain said only Kwankwaso had indicated interest in working with Obi.

Ononuju said: “Kwankwaso has talked about his willingness to work with Peter Obi that follows from the election, but he was threatened by some people not to work with Obi. There is no talk of a merger between any of the parties; the only merger possible from what we have seen is Kwankwaso talking of his willingness to work with Obi. There are no other talks of a merger; the PDP can’t talk about a merger because of its crisis, it has to stand on its own before it can talk about a merger. I can also say the same thing for the Labour Party. The only one I know without an issue is the Obidient movement, which is not a political party but a movement. There are no merger talks but hints to cohabitate and work with each other, which I know with Kwankwaso saying publicly that he would work with Obi.”

Atiku has inordinate ambition

Ononuju said nobody, including Kwankwaso or Obi, will take Atiku seriously due to his inordinate ambition.

He said: “Because of Atiku’s inordinate ambition, if he doesn’t get off his high horse, nobody will take him seriously, not Kwankwaso, neither will Obi. Secondly, Atiku is in a party that is currently in crisis, so there is nothing like a merger with such issues. Obi visited Atiku some time ago and Atiku spoke about working together, to which Peter said yes, but Atiku will not have anybody from the South step down for him. So the fact that in 2013, he said that the ‘sanctity of rotation is as sanctimonious as the quota system,’ quota system is the reason the South bent backward to allow the North’s inclusion – so if that’s the way to have the presidency and you don’t want to allow South inclusion, nobody will work with you – that’s why nobody may work with Atiku because he wants to be on top.

If you formed an alliance with nPDP and birthed Buhari’s presidency, after eight years of Buhari’s presidency, why would you feel terrible having a Southerner rule? If you don’t have that mind of the North and South ruling, it’s not going to work. It was Atiku that paid money to the preachers in the mosques to start preaching that Muslims in the North should not vote for anybody from the East. That was why Wike got frightened and started his heritage denial acrobatics that ‘I’m not Igbo,’ thinking that they would get him in the North. What happened? He was rejected, and that’s why Wike has been spilling bad blood in trying to do the NWC the same way Atiku did to it. Once you use money to compromise our party’s NWC, you can bend their heads to do anything.

No merger if Atiku won’t step down for a younger person

The PDP chieftain dismissed the possibility of a merger if Atiku won’t step down for a younger candidate from the South.

He said: “So, there is nothing like a merger if Atiku will not step down for a younger person from the South, the reason the youth movement was formed was because Atiku refused, so if he refused and we now have what we have of the party breaking into several factions, the opposition is gone; so you blame Atiku for all that.

“There is no way they can allow him to benefit from the crisis which he has engineered. He is the cause of the splitting of the opposition; if he had respected the fact that the Southerners should go after Buhari’s eight years, I don’t think we would be where we are. We are where we are today in the country because of Atiku’s inordinate quest for the presidency after he had told everybody that it’s the turn of the North, and that was the reason for forming the PDP.

“So, if nPDP succeeded in bringing Buhari into power for eight years, is that not enough for the North? Why is the Northerner still insisting on running and going to engineer such nonsense in the mosque?”

Peter Obi will never work with Atiku

He also declared that Obi will never work with Atiku as a Vice Presidential candidate.

Ononuju said: “Peter Obi will never work with Atiku for him to become president and him to become vice president. Obi does not have that capacity; how many people will you talk to? Obasanjo, Chief Clark, or the ones that have died in the struggle? If Kwankwaso has seen it and decides to work with Peter, that’s fine, but the North must understand the craving of the South for inclusion is heightened by the experience of Buhari’s weaponization of nepotism.”

Atiku stepping down for a younger presidential candidate

“That is a question for him; everybody has told him to step down for the sake of democracy and opposition, and as we speak, the opposition is moribund and comatose because the PDP is gone. Atiku should bow out and support somebody from the South, and if for any reason Obi agrees, that will be the transition. When Peter left, the East left with him because their expectations were not heard. How can you form a coalition using nPDP, Others came in with CPC, and you ended up having APC. Nobody goes into an alliance with people they do not trust.”

Possibility of Atiku Becoming President

The former Special Adviser on Public Affairs to Obi dismissed the possibility of Atiku becoming Nigeria’s president due to what he termed miscalculations.

He said, “I don’t see him ruling Nigeria because all he has done is miscalculate, and that’s why things are the way they are for him. This miscalculation is the reason he did not allow Goodluck to win; he removed Goodluck. If he hadn’t done that, who knows, maybe Atiku could have become president again. He formed the alliance that removed Goodluck, the PDP lost power, and Atiku lost his balance. So, if he had been patient with Goodluck Jonathan, who knows if he could have been president? But no, he wouldn’t allow Goodluck, and he brought the PDP down with the formation of the nPDP. This is why he lost it.

“There are times in life when destiny presents itself, and if you are not ready, it passes you by. It came for him then; no one in the North could have gotten it before him. But no, and this last time, he didn’t support anybody. He went all in, paying people in the mosque to pull down those from the East, and even got some people from the region to deny their heritage, saying ‘I’m not Igbo,’ so that they could be considered. Some of us told him that wasn’t the way to go.

“I don’t see Atiku becoming president because he’s past his time. By 2027, the presidency is expected to remain in the South since the North had it for eight years before returning to the South. I don’t see anyone from the South willing to be Vice President to Atiku.

“This isn’t about individuals; it’s about our democracy. For it to thrive, it needs a vibrant opposition, and right now, that doesn’t exist. I blame that on Atiku’s excessive ambition. If he had allowed it to go to the South and Peter Obi had emerged, things would have been better. As for Wike, he’s not serious. He has been working with Tinubu since 2018 and even denied Amaechi’s candidate under his party in 2019. The candidate from the South should be Peter Obi—Wike has lost Rivers State.”

Only a Tinubu-INEC merger can work, not Atiku or others

On his part, activist lawyer Deji Adeyanju maintained that no merger could wrest power from Tinubu’s alignment in 2027.

He told Daily Post: “What’s the point of the merger? Is it not to win elections? They can’t win any election against Tinubu’s alignment. They should continue on their ego path. I encourage them to stay divided so that Tinubu’s ‘babalawo’ can get a raise.

“They had just one job in the last election because we had a president who was clueless and not in charge. He failed so badly that his body language suggested he never wanted Tinubu to win—so all the opposition needed to do was present a united front, but they refused.

“Instead, they chose to wage an ego war. Kwankwaso said he’s the next president, and the same goes for Obi and Atiku. They divided their votes while INEC and Tinubu were united. They had their chance, but they blew it. This Tinubu can’t lose any election. Didn’t we see how the results on IReV differed from what was announced in the just-concluded Edo election?

“Tinubu can’t lose an election that he organizes, so it’s pointless. They shouldn’t merge—they should just entertain us and their supporters. There’s no need for any merger; everyone should go and test their popularity.

“All I see is a Tinubu-INEC merger, in a country where people’s votes don’t matter. When you talk about a merger, look at the Edo election, and watch what happens in Ondo as a formality. Look at the Kogi and Imo elections—there were no real elections in those places. That’s the country you’re talking about for a merger? They had the opportunity to defeat the APC, but they were too busy fooling around and playing to the gallery.”