2027: Obi Dumps Coalition After Atiku Vows He Won’t Step Aside

ByEditor

Oct 3, 2025 #2027, #Abubakar Atiku, #ADC, #Peter Obi

Femi Ashekun & Pat Stevens/

Peter Obi has quietly begun steps to exit the opposition’s coalition, just a day after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar forcefully rejected any notion of stepping aside for another aspirant in the 2027 race.

Atiku’s declaration came in the wake of media reports suggesting that he would withdraw if a younger candidate emerged.

In a statement issued Thursday, his media adviser, Paul Ibe, clarified that Atiku never explicitly promised to step down, insisting those claims were misinterpretations.

What Atiku did say, the statement noted, was that he supports a competitive primary in which younger aspirants are free to run, but he gave no commitment to yield to anyone.

That backdrop appears to have crystallised Obi’s latest decision.

Sources at a closed-door Lagos parley say Obi told confidants that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition has effectively become tilted against him, especially under a primary system where money politics dominate and Atiku’s resolve is now unshakable.

Obi is reported to have opened talks with Action Alliance (AA), where he has allegedly been offered a direct presidential ticket—bypassing a contested primary altogether.

One insider at the meeting said Obi made it clear, “He won’t spend time in a contest where dollars pick the winner.”

His grassroots supporters, known as the Obidients, have rallied behind the decision.

Their national coordinator, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, dismissed Atiku’s vow as a political ploy, warning that Obi would never engage in the “dollarised primaries” now routine in Nigeria’s delegate system.

“In today’s Nigeria, delegates are being purchased in dollars, not naira. Obi will never be part of such a process,” Tanko told The PUNCH.

At the same meeting, some South East elders urged Obi to remain in the coalition to maintain alignment with northern and southwestern interests.

But sources say Obi refused, arguing that facing Atiku head-on in a monetised primary was no longer viable.

Though the split isn’t yet explosive, Obi’s exit marks a major fissure in the opposition’s attempt to present a united front.

With Atiku’s refusal to bend and Obi’s rejection of transactional primaries, the stage is now set for a brewing showdown, one that could fracture the opposition long before 2027.