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Enioluwa Adeniyi
Guest
Katchi Ononuju, a former Special Adviser on Public Affairs to Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi, has stated that his former principal will not consider a vice-presidential role alongside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in any future electoral alliances.
Speaking with Daily Post, the PDP chieftain instead suggested that Atiku should consider stepping down in favour of a candidate from the southern region for the 2027 presidential election.
Ononuju expressed skepticism regarding Atiku’s prospects of winning the presidency, citing several strategic missteps that, in his view, diminish the feasibility of Atiku’s success in future national polls.
Ononuju said, “Peter Obi will never work with Atiku for him to become president and him to become vice president. Obi does not have that capacity, how many people will you talk to? Obasanjo, Chief Clark, or the ones that have died in the struggle? If Kwankwaso has seen it and decides to work with Peter, that’s fine, but the North must understand the craving of the South for inclusion is heightened by the experience of Buhari’s weaponization of nepotism.
“That is a question for him; everybody has told him to step down for the sake of democracy, opposition, and as we speak, the opposition is moribund and comatose because the PDP is gone. Atiku should bow out and support somebody from the South, and if for any reason Obi agrees, that will be the transition. When Peter left, the East left with him because their expectations were not heard. How can you form a coalition using nPDP, others came in with CPC, and you ended up having APC. Nobody goes into an alliance with people they do not trust.”
Speaking on Atiku’s chance of becoming President Ononuju said, “I don’t see him ruling Nigeria because all he has done is miscalculate, and that’s why things are the way they are for him. This miscalculation is the reason he did not allow Goodluck to win; he removed Goodluck. If he hadn’t done that, who knows, maybe Atiku could have become president again. He formed the alliance that removed Goodluck, the PDP lost power, and Atiku lost his balance. So, if he had been patient with Goodluck Jonathan, who knows if he could have been president. But no, he wouldn’t allow Goodluck, and he brought the PDP down with the formation of the nPDP. This is why he lost it.
“There are times in life when destiny presents itself, and if you are not ready, it passes you by. It came for him then; no one in the North could have gotten it before him. But no, and this last time, he didn’t support anybody. He went all in, paying people in the mosque to pull down those from the East, and even got some people from the region to deny their heritage, saying ‘I’m not Igbo,’ so that they could be considered. Some of us told him that wasn’t the way to go.
“I don’t see Atiku becoming president because he’s past his time. By 2027, the presidency is expected to remain in the South since the North had it for eight years before returning to the South. I don’t see anyone from the South willing to be Vice President to Atiku.
“This isn’t about individuals; it’s about our democracy. For it to thrive, it needs a vibrant opposition, and right now, that doesn’t exist. I blame that on Atiku’s excessive ambition. If he had allowed it to go to the South and Peter Obi had emerged, things would have been better. As for Wike, he’s not serious. He has been working with Tinubu since 2018 and even denied Amaechi’s candidate under his party in 2019. The candidate from the South should be Peter Obi—Wike has lost Rivers State.”
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