The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has stated that Peter Obi “can never be the best” presidential candidate to emerge from the South-East, as he defended political leaders from the region who are backing President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Umahi made these comments in a Friday interview with ARISE News, contending that Obi did not properly consult political leaders in the region before launching his presidential bid in the 2023 election.
“Peter Obi is not the best of our finest in the Southeast. He’s not the best; he can never be the best,” Umahi said.
The former governor of Ebonyi State stated that anyone aspiring to the presidency and seeking to represent the South-East ought to consult the region’s governors and other political stakeholders before pursuing that ambition.
“You cannot play politics in the Southeast without consulting people like us,” he said.
Umahi stated that, had he been seeking the presidency, he would have consulted political leaders in the region, contending that an ambition that carries the expectations of an entire region should not be pursued alone.
“If I were contesting, I would have consulted,” he said.
He insisted that the South-East had other qualified political figures capable of aspiring to the presidency, and he pushed back against the idea that Obi should automatically be seen as the region’s strongest candidate based on his showing in the 2023 election.
Umahi similarly challenged the claim that the presidency ought to go automatically to Anambra State if the South-East were given the chance to produce Nigeria’s president.
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He pointed out that Nigeria’s first president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, hailed from the area that now makes up Anambra State and argued that other states in the region should be considered as well.
Umahi named Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, and Imo as states that ought to have opportunities in any future talks about producing a president from the South-East.
The minister made these remarks while defending political leaders in the region who back Tinubu rather than Obi ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Umahi contended that the South-East’s route to the presidency rested on political negotiation and alliances with other parts of the country, rather than treating support for a particular candidate as a test of loyalty to the region.
He also dismissed criticism of South-East political figures who support Tinubu, saying it was unfair to depict them as betraying the region because of their political choices.
The minister insisted that the region must build alliances across Nigeria if it hopes to produce a president and that no single politician should be regarded as its only viable presidential option.
