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Atiku, Obi parting of ways: Why it’s difficult for opposition to unite behind a single candidate– Osuntokun

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Atiku, Obi parting of ways: Why it’s difficult for opposition to unite behind a single candidate– Osuntokun

•Explains how some LP leaders frustrated him as Campaign DG

By Dapo Akinrefon 

Chief Akin Osuntokun was the Director-General of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the 2023 polls. In this interview, Osuntokun, a former Political Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, gives reasons the opposition may find it difficult in rallying behind a candidate to contest the 2027 presidential election. He also discloses how some Labour Party leaders frustrated him and others who were brought him to help the 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi. Excerpts: 

You previously stated that the Labour Party was heading towards extinction due to internal saboteurs. Given that you defected to the ADC and Peter Obi just moved to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), is the original third-force experiment officially dead?

 Well, I didn’t defect to ADC, so I’m not a member of ADC or any other party. The third force? With your reference to a third force, the presumption is that there are already in existence two parties you deemed of sufficient gravitas. I know of APC but which other party do you have in mind?

Peter Obi moved from the Labour Party to the ADC, and now to the NDC within a short period. As his former campaign manager, do you worry this rapid party-switching erodes his brand as a principled alternative?

 No, there are extenuating reasons for his departure from ADC. First is that the party is not prepared to zone the presidential ticket to the South. Given the factors that determine victory in party primaries in Nigeria, the only aspirant with a realistic chance of winning the primaries in the ADC is Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Second is the uncertainty beclouding the future of the party going forward. I’m talking about the legal issues. I hope, for the sake of the stability of the political party system, such issues will be resolved in favour of the ADC. I think he (Obi) has been vindicated by the prompt categorical declaration by the NDC that it has zoned the presidential ticket of the party to the South.

It was reported that Obi and Kwankwaso left the ADC coalition project because Atiku Abubakar claimed the party was “formed in his house”. What really happened behind the scenes during the failed ADC coalition talks?

 This is the first time I’m hearing of such claim by Abubakar. In any case, the fact that the party was formed in his house cannot mean that he holds proprietary rights over how the party conducts its affairs. As I said earlier, I’m not a member of the party so I wouldn’t know anything about what happens behind the scenes. I can only assume that the reason for the departure of Obi from the party has to do with its disposition towards the adoption of the principle that the presidential ticket presently is exclusive to Southern Nigeria.

 Some political analysts warn that Obi, Kwankwaso, and Atiku running on separate platforms will hand an easy victory to the APC. Why can the opposition leaders not unite behind a single candidate?

 That is the conventional wisdom and a correct reading of the potential of the APC to win the presidential election. It is a boon to the chances of a party that already wields substantial advantage in the realm of power politics. For whatever it is worth, getting the nod from 31 state governors cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. The opposition cannot unite behind a single candidate because they have conflicting visions of where Nigeria is headed. Remember that the fundamental reason behind the decision of Obi to leave the ADC coalition is the issue of power rotation. If he had stayed back, he would have to content himself with the role of running mate to Abubakar. Now, people can take positions regardless of whether it serves the cause of making their ambition realistic or not, that they would not subordinate their principles to personal ambition

What was the single biggest structural obstacle you faced when managing the Obi-Datti presidential campaign council?

 Well, there was the problem of working with the extant structures of the Labour Party from the national executive to the state party structures. In their understanding, the utility of the party offices was the mercenary use of the structure to generate money for personal embezzlement particularly from political office aspirants. Obi was a different kind of politician from those they were accustomed to who deal with them in the language of naira. So, they were frustrated with him right from the word go. The frustration was extended to those of us who came to work with Obi. They extorted us of the little money available. You can extrapolate this mentality from the behaviour of the former party chairman, Julius Abure and fellow travellers who lent themselves to the cause of internal subversion of Obi. You also remember the spectacle of the Arabambis and the Apampas. When Obi’s associates conducted due diligence on the list of polling agents (for payment of allowances) submitted by Abure. It was discovered that over 80 percent of them were ghosts

The Labour Party spokesperson recently admitted your departure left a massive void. Now that the core team has scattered across different parties, who truly owns the Obidient movement today?

 The Obidients movement was not synonymous with the Labour Party. It was and it is exclusive to Obi. So to the best of my knowledge, the Obidients have not scattered across different parties.

 Does the ADC possess the structures to challenge the ruling party without Obi?

 As I said earlier, I’m not a member of any party, so I don’t know the extent to which I can be identified as an opposition leader. This does not stop me from criticising the conduct of any public institution. Remember, I’m first and foremost a newspaper columnist. 

My understanding of the Nigerian problem is that it is systemic so I doubt if any part of the dysfunctional structure can be successfully isolated for durable redress. INEC, like any other dysfunctional manifestation is a symptom of this underlying disease. The electoral body is this consequential because it is the agency through which the big elephant of the Nigerian constitution namely the presidency is procured. Until that presidency is constitutionally trimmed to align with decentralisation and becomes federalism compliant, INEC will always come under unbearable pressure that it is unable to withstand. You can say that of any Nigerian public institution including the judiciary

 You previously protested against INEC alongside other opposition leaders. With the upcoming election cycles approaching, has Nigeria’s electoral infrastructure seen any genuine reform since 2023?

 This was the point I was making and you have struck the kernel on the head. The courts have become an accessory to the destabilisation of the political system. We are witness to how a court will deliver a judgement today and violate the same judgement tomorrow. It has become as ridiculous as that. This is also a symptom of the power politics unleashed by the present hyper-centralisation of power at the centre.

The post Atiku, Obi parting of ways: Why it’s difficult for opposition to unite behind a single candidate– Osuntokun appeared first on Vanguard News.


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Politics

Atiku’s emergence self-fufiling prophecy, Obi, Kwankwaso in champions League – Otubanjo

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May 28, 2026

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Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof. Femi Otubanjo, has described Atiku Abubakar’s emergence as the African Democratic Congress, ADC, candidate for the 2027 election as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Otubanjo, who spoke in an interview with Arise News TV on Thursday, claimed that the former Vice President created ADC as his personal vehicle to contest the coming election.

According to him, the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, foresaw the outcome of the ADC primary election and moved from the party.

“Atiku’s emergence is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy; there is nothing to it, and that is why Peter Obi ran away to NDC because no one else could have defeated Atiku”, he said.

Using a soccer analogy, Otubanjo claimed that while President Bola Tinubu and Atiku are in the Premier League, Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, are in the Champions League.

“The ADC is a special-purpose vehicle for Atiku’s candidacy. Using a football analogy, Atiku and Tinubu are the only two in the Premier League of Nigerian politics.

“Peter Obi and Kwankwaso are in the Championship, with Rotimi Amaechi and the likes in League One. I’m surprised Amaechi wants to be president”, he added.




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Ransom now item in Nigerians’ budgets – Atiku

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24 minutes ago

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May 28, 2026

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Former-Vice-President-Atiku-Abubakar

By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday lamented that ransom payments have become as routine a household expense for Nigerians as school fees and rent. 

Read Also: Insecurity: US panel accuses Police, Army of collusion in militias’ attacks

He slammed the President Bola Tinubu administration for celebrating debt statistics while the country bleeds from a security and economic crisis of devastating proportions.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, was responding to recent comments from the Presidency suggesting that Nigeria’s borrowing level compares favourably with some African countries.

According to him, the comparison exposed a dangerous disconnect between those in power and the grinding realities faced by ordinary Nigerians every day.

“It is both astonishing and insulting that at a time when millions of Nigerians can barely afford one meal a day, when parents are withdrawing children from school because of crushing hardship, when businesses are collapsing under unbearable electricity tariffs and inflation, and when entire communities are being overrun by terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers, the Presidency is celebrating debt figures as though indebtedness itself were an economic achievement,” he said.

The former vice president painted a harrowing picture of a country where road travel has become a gamble with death, where families go to bed dreading midnight calls about abducted loved ones, and where villages are sacked with disturbing regularity while those in power remain consumed by image management.

“In many parts of Nigeria today, travelling by road has become a gamble with death. Families go to bed praying not to receive midnight calls announcing the abduction of loved ones. Villages are sacked almost routinely while those in power appear more concerned about image management than decisive action. What exactly are Nigerians benefiting from all these loans if insecurity continues to spread and the economy continues to suffocate?” he queried.

Atiku argued that the insecurity crisis had directly collapsed food production, with farmers driven off their lands by armed gangs and terrorists across vast territories, triggering the spiral of food scarcity, hunger, and malnutrition that Nigerians are now living through.

“Across the country, farmers can no longer safely access their farmlands because vast territories have effectively fallen under the control of armed gangs and terrorists. Food production has declined sharply because rural communities now live under constant threat of attacks, abductions, and killings. The inevitable result is what Nigerians are currently witnessing — astronomical food prices, widespread hunger, malnutrition, and rising anger among citizens abandoned by their own government,” he stated.

The Waziri Adamawa acknowledged that borrowing is not inherently wrong when tied to productive investments that expand infrastructure, create jobs, and improve lives. But he insisted that under the Tinubu administration, unprecedented borrowing had produced nothing but deeper poverty, deeper insecurity, and deeper despair.

“No nation becomes prosperous by borrowing to finance consumption, sustain wasteful government lifestyles, and paper over policy failures. Countries that borrow responsibly do so to expand productivity, create jobs, secure critical infrastructure, and improve the welfare of their citizens. In Nigeria today, however, citizens see no correlation between the mounting debt profile and improvement in their daily lives,” he said.

He accused the administration of weaponising propaganda to distract Nigerians from the catastrophic consequences of its economic mismanagement, and recalled that the administration in which he served alongside former President Olusegun Obasanjo pursued disciplined economic reforms that freed Nigeria from the burden of Paris Club debt and restored global confidence in the country.

“It is therefore tragic that a government that inherited a struggling but manageable economy has plunged the nation into deeper debt, deeper poverty, deeper insecurity, and deeper despair within such a short period, yet still expects applause from suffering citizens,” Atiku said.

He dismissed the presidency’s debt comparisons as statistical gymnastics that no ordinary Nigerian has any use for, insisting that what citizens want to know is whether food is affordable, whether their children are safe, whether businesses can survive, and whether the future holds any promise.

“Nigerians do not care about statistical gymnastics from government spokespersons. They care about whether food is affordable, whether their children are safe, whether businesses can survive, whether farmers can return to their lands, and whether the future still holds any promise. Sadly, under this administration, the answer to those questions is becoming increasingly bleak,” he concluded.

Atiku urged the Tinubu administration to abandon propaganda and face the nation’s harsh realities with sincerity, competence, urgency, and compassion before Nigeria slips further into economic and social instability.

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Baseless, ridiculous – APC dismisses Adebutu’s challenge of Yayi’s origin

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33 minutes ago

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May 28, 2026

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The Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has dismissed claims by the Ladi Adebutu Democratic Organisation, LADO, challenging the indigeneship of Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola in Ogun State, calling it baseless and ridiculous.

The party opined that the claim that Adeola, popularly known as Yayi is a stranger in the state is not only reckless and mischievous, but contrary to both facts and constitutional provisions.

DAILY POST reports that the spokesperson of LADO, Afolabi Orekoya, had questioned YAYI’s origin during a radio programme on a private FM station in Ilese-Ijebu, on Wednesday.

Orekoya insisted that the 2027 election should not be handed to “a stranger” allegedly unfamiliar with the state’s political and social history.

In a statement issued on Thursday by the Ogun APC Publicity Secretary, Nuberu Olufemi, the party said the attempt amounts to desperate political propaganda aimed at distracting Ogun people from the glaring crisis and disintegration within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The statement wondered how a politician with maternal and paternal roots in Abeokuta and Yewaland, respectively, and who is currently representing the good people of Ogun West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, could be described as a non-indigene in Ogun State.

According to the APC, the allegation clearly contradicts the provisions of the Nigerian constitution on citizenship and eligibility to contest elections.

The party urged the PDP and its affiliates to focus on resolving their deepening internal crisis instead of resorting to attacks on political opponents.

It noted that the crisis rocking the PDP in Ogun State had become so severe that several key stakeholders had abandoned the party for the APC, including the erstwhile PDP State Chairman, Sikirulai Ogundele, as well as members of the PDP caucus in the Ogun State House of Assembly.

The APC described the PDP as a sinking and crisis-ridden party whose members were daily losing confidence in its leadership and direction.

It added that it was ironic that supporters of a governorship candidate who, out of political desperation, abandoned his ancestral base in Iperu to contest election in Odogbolu, are now attempting to discredit a vastly superior candidate through unfounded allegations.

The statement read in part: “Nigerians are well aware of the fact that the PDP governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, is facing a Federal Government court case linked to alleged vote-buying and money laundering during the 2023 Ogun State governorship election.

“We wait to see how such a candidate, whom the people of Ogun State are keeping at arm’s length because of his poor record, hopes to derive political capital from false, jejune, and illogical statements targeted at Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola and his candidature.”

The statement maintained that Senator Solomon Adeola remains the governorship candidate to beat ahead of the 2027 election, citing his economic blueprint, grassroots engagements across the state, and extensive constituency projects.

It concluded that Ogun residents would reject what it termed the “politics of deception” and instead embrace continuity, stability, and development in 2027.




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