• Faces pressure from presidency

All things being equal, the candidate of the Labour Party(LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, will declare his ambition for the 2027 election early next year.

Although he had assured his supporters in June that he will be on the ballot in the 2027 presidential election, a source told this newspaper that Obi will make a formal declaration on the platform to execute the election, in the second week of January.

“We appeal to our people to be patient. There are pressures from the presidency. They don’t want Peter Obi to be on the ballot, but by second week of January, he will make known his ambition,” the source who doesn’t want to be quoted, disclosed.

Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the then relatively unknown Labour Party, and came third with over six million votes, securing the same number of states with Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was eventually declared winner of the election, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second.

The Labour Party candidate also won Lagos State and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), regarded as some ‘swing states.’ Before the June conversation with his supporters on social media, there had been concern about Obi’s political future, since the Labour Party has been factionalised after the 2023 general elections.

Obi was also linked with some political leaders, who adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as coalition platform to unseat President Tinubu and the APC in 2027. But since the platform was unveiled in June this year, Obi is yet to formalise his membership of the party.

National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, had explained that Obi and former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, were allowed time to complete electoral engagements in their former parties. The Anambra governorship election, which was believed had delayed Obi’s registration with the ADC, was held on November 8, and almost a month after the election, he is yet to officially join the party.

The source disclosed that this is some of the conversations they would hold when they meet preparatory to the January declaration. “We believe that for ADC to make impact, certain things must be put in place, and we believe that Peter Obi has a role to play in the coalition,” he said.

Obi was quoted two days ago to have demanded, “know the fundamentals that we all agree to respect,” before he could join the party. He was quoted to have said in the report which was denied by his media office: “Yes, I respect all those who are leaders there.

Of course, our Chairman, David Mark, is one of those people I respect, and I believe he has the political sagacity to lead the party. And so are so many others we have there, people like my own leader, Atiku, somebody for whom I have all my respect and believe in the good of Nigeria.

“But in all this, there are still some fine lines that we need to respect, where things must be done properly, where we must sit down and talk about where we’re driving the country to.” His media office said Obi did not grant any interview, and blamed it on “political hirelings intent on distorting facts and distracting opposition.”

Abdullahi told Sunday Telegraph that he has no explanation why Obi has not joined the ADC as he promised, adding, “He told us he was waiting for the Anambra election.

Now Anambra governorship has come and gone and he is talking about zoning. It is left for him to do the honourable thing and join.” The spokesperson, however, stated that there was no timeframe for him to register, but said the party would be happy if he joins the coalition.