2027: Atiku Now Our Best Campaign Manager Because He Attacks Obi — Oshiomhole

The senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that divisions among opposition political leaders will make it easy for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to retain power in the 2027 general elections.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Oshiomhole said former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has become the APC’s “best campaign manager” because of his alleged attacks on fellow opposition leader, Peter Obi.

According to him, Obi and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, have also been attacking each other, a development the former Edo State governor believes will work in the APC’s favour in 2027.

“You mean that APC would be worried about which of the parties now… ADC? I saw Atiku. Atiku is now our best campaign manager because he is attacking Obi, and I see Obi attacking Amaechi. I see Amaechi say Obi is a regional player, Atiku is a regional player, and he is the only national player, but he didn’t tell us what his ward unit looks like,” Oshiomhole said.

The lawmaker expressed confidence that the opposition would be roundly defeated in the 2027 elections, irrespective of any coalition plans.

He challenged opposition leaders to tell Nigerians what they would do differently from the policies currently being implemented by President Bola Tinubu.

“So, the opposition can have their dreams, but they will be defeated flatly because nobody believes them. They have to speak to the new policies that they would reverse, whether they would reverse taxation, reverse fuel subsidy removal, student loans, or reverse any of those bold decisions that President Tinubu has taken,” he said.

Oshiomhole accused opposition leaders of being united only by their desire for power.

He added that Tinubu had ventured into difficult terrain to re-engineer the Nigerian economy through tough policy decisions.

Nigeria’s political landscape is gradually heating up ahead of the 2027 general elections, with opposition leaders positioning themselves to challenge President Tinubu.

Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who came third; Rabiu Kwankwaso, who came fourth; and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, are among the prominent figures expected to play major roles ahead of 2027.

The opposition figures had initially agreed to work together under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to improve their chances against the APC and Tinubu.

However, Obi and Kwankwaso later moved to the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) to pursue their ambitions, citing the numerous litigations surrounding the ADC as the reason for leaving.

Atiku and Amaechi remain in the ADC and, with party primaries approaching, it remains unclear who the opposition parties will eventually field against Tinubu.

Meanwhile, the APC has waived the screening requirement for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.

APC spokesman Felix Morka said the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) reached the decision during its 188th meeting held on Wednesday.

Morka said the NWC “deemed him as duly screened in accordance with the Constitution of the Party for the purpose of participation in the upcoming primary elections.”