2027: I Will Leave Peter Obi Once He Accepts VP Position, Says Utomi

• Yunusa says ‘Obidient Movement’ to remain in ADC irrespective of primaries’ outcome

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Respected Political Economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, yesterday vowed to withdraw his support for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, if the former Anambra governor chooses to run as vice presidential candidate to anybody in 2027.

Utomi, the Founder of and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Values and Leadership (CVL) who appeared on a national television, where he discussed sundry national issues, maintained that Obi will contest for the presidency in 2027.

Recall that Obi on December 31 defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a party which many Nigerians believe former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, a veteran contestant for the presidency, has a stronghold.

But Utomi pointed out that Obi did not join the ADC to deputise for anybody, insisting that he will walk away immediately Obi decides to be vice president to any politician.

“I can tell you that Peter Obi will contest for the presidency. The day he becomes somebody’s vice president, I walk away from his corner. I can tell you that for a fact,”  Utomi, a former presidential adviser stated.

Utomi also made a case for limiting presidential and gubernatorial candidates to Nigerians aged 70 and below, stressing that the Nigerian presidency has increasingly become a ‘retirement home’ for some politicians.

Besides, he criticised both former President Muhammadu Buhari’s and President Bola Tinubu’s administrations as persons running ‘government in absentia’, describing the situation as unacceptable.

He added: “Something important about this election to bear in mind is that the Nigerian presidency has become a retirement home where people go for the Nigerian state to pay their medical bills. It is not acceptable. They don’t have the fitness to run the country. The last one, and the current one, have essentially been government-in-absentia leaders.

“I, Pat Utomi, am insisting that I will canvass to the Nigerian people that nobody over the age of 70 should run for an executive position, whether it be governor or president,” he  maintained.

Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of the ‘Obidient Movement’ Worldwide, Tanko Yunusa, has said the movement will remain within the ADC and abide by the outcome of the party’s presidential primary, even if  Atiku Abubakar emerges as the candidate in 2027.

Speaking on the same media platform, he insisted that the movement was committed to democratic principles and would take its decisions “democratically” within the ADC and compete fairly alongside other aspirants.

He stated: “As democrats, we will go in there and contest equitably well with every contestant based on democratic tenets. We believe that at the end of it all, Mr. Peter Obi will come out on top with the large teaming population that he is bringing into the ADC. We will remain in the party and give the party the lease of life it demands democratically.”

Yunusa said that the ADC began to gain nationwide traction following the involvement of Obi, describing the party as a “vehicle” that was finally set in motion by the former governor’s entry.

Yunusa added: “With all due respect to the ADC, it got its traction when people came around and agreed. The vehicle of ADC kick-started yesterday with one ignition kick, and that is the excitement that His Excellency Mr. Peter Obi has brought to it.”

According to him, the ‘Obidient Movement’ is made up of “intelligent youth who are demanding clarity and good governance,” stressing that millions of supporters are ready to move into the ADC.

“They have made that position known very clearly, and they are going to move in their millions into the ADC. That is an affirmation,” he stated.

He also accused the current government of deploying what he described as “negative executive power” against Nigerians, urging citizens to respond by using their own “positive executive power” to reclaim the country through democratic participation.