The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has criticised the rumoured possibility of former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi running as vice-presidential candidate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 elections.
The minister has described such a move as a sign of desperation and political inconsistency.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News Prime Time on Monday night, Keyamo said Obi’s possible return as Atiku’s running mate, eight years after they first teamed up in 2019, would project him as “a desperate, unserious individual.”
“It is doom for them. There is no way forward for them in that coalition,” Keyamo said, in reference to opposition efforts to form a united front under the African Democratic Congress (ADC)-led coalition.
“You will now have that Obi picture of a vice-presidential candidate in 2019, presidential candidate in 2023, and again vice-presidential candidate in 2027. It gives a picture of a desperate, unserious individual.”
Obi and Atiku had first contested on a joint ticket under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 presidential election, where they polled 11,262,978 votes, coming second to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who secured 15,191,847 votes.
However, in 2023, both men went their separate ways, Atiku remaining the PDP flagbearer, while Obi defected to the Labour Party. In the 2023 election, Atiku garnered 6,984,520 votes, while Obi received 6,101,533 votes, finishing second and third respectively, behind APC’s Bola Tinubu, who won with 8,794,726 votes.