Ibrahim Abdulkareem is the Director General of ‘Big Tent Nigeria’ and Chairman of the Quad Steering Committee for Peter Obi’s Support Groups. In this interview, he speaks on Obi’s chances in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), ANAYO EZUGWU reports
How do you respond to Atiku Abubakar’s comment that he is not stepping aside for any other presidential aspirant in the ADC?
Everybody that knows didn’t just join the ADC. He was part of the party from the first day, and he made it clear to everybody, everybody that would be part of the coalition if the coalition is not just for us to grab power and give it to somebody, but if it is for us to come together and create a system that will work for Nigerians because they have been longing for genuine and purposeful leadership. So, it is not about who become what or about somebody’s longterm ambition.
That’s not what we need. What he said is that he is going to be part of the coalition and he’s been part of it, and he has done something that none of these people that are aspiring, including President Bola Tinubu himself, has done. What he has done is that before fully declaring for the ADC, he talked to members of the Obidient Movement. He gave them four hours for questions, particularly why he wants to go to ADC.
Obi has never at any forum anywhere told anybody to give him the ADC ticket on a platter of gold. What he keeps saying is that what he has done as well as his previous engagements with the people, will speak for him when the time comes. From what Nigerians have seen, there is no doubt that Obi is working to unite them, especially given that the young people behind him want to see a new Nigeria.
So, he carried everybody along, and what we have seen is that he’s not asking for anything on a platter of gold. So, nothing will make us to feel disenchanted with Atiku’s team or others, because they said he’s not stepping down for anybody. Obi is in this thing for the good of Nigerians.
Do you see Atiku’s statement as a challenge to Obi’s ambition? If so, how do you plan to address it?
We don’t see it as a challenge because we know the terrain. Most people who thought otherwise about Obi in 2023 have already had a rethink.
They now see him as somebody, who is consistent. If you look at who he was as a governor; everybody knows one thing about him. Anywhere we have gone to, I’ve never met one person that said Obi is a thief, and I have not met one person that said he is not a wealth manager.
What everybody is saying, including people that hate Obi, is that he’s a unique politician. He tries to do things in a different way because if you keep doing the same thing, bringing the same set of people, bringing the same elites thinking, you virtually get the same result. We have seen it in Muhammadu Buhari; we have seen it in Bola Tinubu.
Our situation cannot change until we do something new. And with his entrance into the ADC arena, everybody is saying: We have never seen somebody bringing all his team, not only his team, not his associates, but his seniors in politics.
He said let’s go together into this because we have to show the strength. We have to show that we are working together. So, Obi is coming from the angle of unifying Nigeria. His ambition alone is showing that we have to unite. Nigeria is prepared to lead the world, not just lead Africa, so we need a very serious-mindedperson and we must also start doing things differently.
How do you think Obi’s perspective stack up against Atiku’s experience in the political arena, and why do you think Obi is the better choice?
The number one thing I want people to understand about Obi is that he’s someone that keeps to his words. Number two, he’s going to bring excitement, because in politics, if you want to remove an incumbent, you have to bring somebody, who will excite the base – the young people.
He’s everywhere, you can see him at the airport, he’s not flying a private jet. He can afford one if he wishes. We have seen so many ex-governors enjoying that but he chose not to do so.
In leadership, accessibility is very important; you don’t have to have somebody that is being caged. If they said a cabal caged Buhari and another cabal has caged Tinubu, then we don’t want this story to continue. Also we want somebody that at least, can see for himself, what is happening.
We don’t want to present somebody from ADC, then the APC, which we know their greatest fear is Ob, will start saying your old man is even older than our old man.
That’s not the conversation we want during the election. What we want during the 2027 elections is to stick to developmental issues, to talk about issues, to talk about Nigeria and to talk about things concerning us. We really want to move to the next level and not just doing the same thing.
Do you think the ADC should opt for a consensus candidate or go for a competitive primary?
You can’t bring, for example, former Senate President, David Mark, out of his retirement to take a position of being a chairman of a party, with all what he achieved in his life, from the military up to this level, just for him to come and lose the election.
You can’t think of Rauf Aregbesola, after all that he has done, being a governor, being a minister, whatever he has achieved in his life, to become a secretary of a party just to lose the election.
I was there when we were doing the APC thing, we know people that contested with Buhari, but at the end, the main concession from everybody is that we have to bring up somebody who can win and I’m telling you what Obi can bring. We need that excitement.
We’re hearing reports that Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso are allegedly exploring a joint ticket to challenge Atiku for the ADC presidential ticket. What can you tell us about that potential joint ticket?
In politics, we need to validate our candidate all the time because we know what really happened during Buhari. They brought in Pastor Yemi Osibanjo because the South was feeling that Buhari is an extremist as they said during that time. They say he’s going to Islamise the country. But bringing a pastor validated the ticket of Buhari to now say that Buhari is even going to work with the pastor.
So, when we are talking about somebody bringing Kwankwaso, for example, we have other different people that we think are capable of being vice presidential candidate, but let’s talk about the Kwankwaso you are talking about. Why is he being hyped in the North: People are happy because they feel that it’s going to be a good combination. They feel that with Kwankwaso beside Peter Obi, the North feel that we are comfortable.
There is not going to be any decision that is going to change us. We know that Kwankwaso will never keep quiet. He is a person that will always say it the way it is and is going to do. And he’s not only the one person that we’re looking at there’s other people that we can think of.
So. it’s about validation. They agreed that they need to unite this country to the presidency of Mr Peter Obi, but they need somebody that they’ve said, okay, this is our own that we know that he’s going to be a very good vice president that can stand for us. That’s the conversation we’re supposed to be doing.
But I know that definitely the APC government are not happy, and they will do whatever they will do to throw and make a tantrum between us and the Atiku people and other people and just make sure that at least they confuse all of us so that they will bring, because the only card they want to use for the 2027 election is tribal, ethnicity and also religious differences, because they know that that’s the mumu button of Nigeria, as the young people said. So, once we touch that button, all of us will get crazy and we go gaga because of our tribe and religion.
But this kind of ticket that they are proposing is just for us to say that we understand the game you are bringing in 2027. We will not allow you to use that game on us. We are going to strictly stay on the issues and make sure that at least Nigerians get the best out of these people that can do their job. Because being a president is not a title, it’s a responsibility and it’s a very serious responsibility at this point in Nigeria.
