2027: Atiku wants to ride on Peter Obi’s cult appeal, says Keyamo

Aviation and aerospace development minister, Festus Keyamo says Atiku Abubakar cannot win the 2027 presidential election even with Peter Obi, as running mate.

Keyamo, who spoke on Prime Time, an Arise Television programme, said Atiku no longer commands the political support he enjoyed in the last election, as he has since left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which he garnered nearly 7 million votes in 2023.

According to Keyamo, the prospects of an Atiku–Obi alliance ahead of the next general election, is being proposed with the hope of combining the 6,984,520 votes Atiku secured in 2023 and the 6,101,533 votes polled by Obi to surpass President Bola Tinubu’s winning tally of 8,794,726.

“If you make Atiku the presidential candidate and Obi the vice-presidential candidate, what they are trying to do is merge those two votes to surpass our 8.9 million votes. But they don’t understand that the dynamics have changed,” Keyamo said.

“First of all, Atiku does not possess that 6.9 million votes. Obi is more of a cult personality than Atiku, so Atiku cannot take that 6.9 million votes away from PDP. It was the PDP structure that gave him that vote.”

Keyamo further noted that Atiku’s departure from the PDP has stripped him of the support base that powered his last electoral outing.

“The structures of PDP that delivered those votes are intact — he (Atiku) left them behind. Those structures did not follow him,” Keyamo said.

“I will give him one million votes out of those 6.9 million. The rest are PDP votes. The governors, senators, house of representatives members — he didn’t take one away, except for that Sokoto governor following him.”

Keyamo dismissed the potential alliance as political sleight of hand, adding that any arrangement that makes Obi a running mate to Atiku would be an attempt to tap into his popularity.

“Once Obi is his deputy, it would look like he’s hiding behind one finger because they are trying to get Obi’s vote without giving him the ticket,” he said.

“ADC is Atiku’s party, the earlier Obi knows that, the better.”

Obi, a former Anambra governor, has declared his intention to run for president again in 2027.

Atiku is yet to make a formal declaration but has hinted at continued involvement in the opposition’s efforts to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC).