The coalition only wants to take advantage of your popularity

Segun Sowunmi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, has warned the Labour Party presidential flag-bearer in 2023, Peter Obi, that the planned coalition is only interested in taking advantage of his popularity for the 2027 general elections.

Sowunmi made the declaration as he questioned reported plans to convince Obi to join a coalition of political parties spearheaded by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufai, and other top opposition figures.

Several reports have emerged that Atiku has proposed Obi as his running mate in the coalition, promising to support the former Anambra Governor after a one-year term.

But Sowunmi questioned the coalition planners’ approach, labeling the movement a selfish adventure designed to favour a set of politicians.

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The PDP chieftain said Obi should decide whether he wants the coalition to take advantage of him.

“The fundamentals by which you build a movement to rescue a nation can’t be predominantly too selfish. All that talks they’re making about coalition, they are just trying to take advantage of Peter Obi and it’s his business if he allows them to take advantage of him,” he said on Channels TV‘s Politics Today on Friday, May 23, 2025.

Sowunmi asks PDP to bring Obi back

Sowunmi also expressed admiration for Obi’s conduct since he lost the 2023 election, noting that he’s been making his presence felt in several parts of the country.

He also condemned the notion that Obi stands no chance of winning the 2027 election, insisting that such a conception only exists because the former Governor is neither a Yoruba man nor a northerner.

“After we lost the election in 2023, have you watched what he has done? Never mind that people criticise and I also sometimes criticise him, he’s been going to places. He’s been building boots on ground. He’s been doing things that somebody who really wants to run would do,” he said.

“If Peter Obi were a Hausa man or a Fulani man, would anybody be doubting the fact that he’s going to be the presidential candidate and he would likely win? If Peter Obi were a Yoruba man, would anybody be doubting that he’s a presidential candidate and he can likely win?

“If somebody can 6 million votes all by himself with a ragtag army of supporters and the Nigerian people, you want to do a Nigerian movement and we’re supposed to be discussing what?”

Obi left the PDP in 2022 to pick the Labour Party’s presidential ticket after complaining of massive bribery of delegates and vote buying in the party’s presidential primary.

Meanwhile, Sowunmi advised the PDP to explore every possible means of convincing Obi to return to its fold.

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He said Obi’s exit and the rebellion of some high-profile stakeholders led by former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, led to the party’s defeat in 2023, and only a proper reconciliation can position the party for success in 2027.

‘’One of the people who was a PDP member, a South eastern man who felt based on the balance of play that the South-East was excluded, Peter Obi, was allocated 6.2 million votes, you lose the election, you run to the Supreme Court you lose, at least you were adjudged to have lost.

‘’Any deep-thinking, fair-minded Nigerian man who is in the political party called the PDP ought to know that the greatest, necessary next step is to have the conversation about: ‘How do you bring Peter back’ now that the energy driving him is organic,’’ Sowunmi added.