The Labour Party has called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to give up his 2027 presidential ambition for the interest of Nigerians.
The party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Tony Akeni, made the call during an interview with The Punch.
The party urged Atiku to prove his love for Nigeria by supporting the candidacy of Peter Obi in the 2027 general election.
According to Akeni, Atiku should “prove his love for the country by doing the right thing and giving Peter Obi a chance in 2027.”
According to him, “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 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?”
Akeni noted 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.
The comments come just a week after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar dismissed claims that he intended to step down for any aspirant ahead of the 2027 elections.
In a statement sent by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku characterized such accusations as a misinterpretation of his BBC Hausa interview, maintaining that he only stated that he would support a younger candidate if one emerged from a transparent party primary.
“What Atiku Abubakar clearly and unambiguously said was that young people, as well as other prospective presidential aspirants, are free to enter the contest,” the statement clarified.
The former vice president told the BBC Hausa Service, “If I run for office and a young man defeats me, I will accept that. The party we have joined now prioritizes youth and women.”
The statement, however, has done little to quell rising speculation about an opposition partnership between Atiku and Obi, who campaigned on different platforms in the 2023 presidential election.
In recent times, opposition officials have discussed selecting a sellable and uniting candidate capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
Additionally, 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 practice 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.
He cautioned that any attempt to restore power to the North in 2027 “will create a break in the unity of this country” and urged all parties to work together to produce a “southern candidate acceptable to all.”
Tanko stated that the movement is steadfast in its opinion that “Peter Obi is the best product to present to the Nigerian political circle,” and that it is not considering any alternatives.
“We believe he has the quality, capacity, ability, character, and compassion to make things work. But one thing is key: wherever Mr. Peter Obi is going, we will go too,” he said.
