Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi has broken his silence on alleged Vice President slot offer from ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar in a proposed single-term coalition ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Recall, Atiku made the offer during a private meeting between with Obi in the United Kingdom earlier this year.
Atiku is said to have assured Obi that he would serve only one term and hand over power afterwards.
“Atiku and Obi met earlier this year in the UK. That was where Atiku first mooted the idea of a coalition and urged Obi to be his running mate. Obi then asked for time to think it over and consult his loyalists,” one source revealed.
However, amid growing rumours of a possible coalition among opposition leaders to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, Peter Obi, said that the only coalition he is interested in is the one against hunger, poverty, and the terrible state of healthcare and education in Nigeria.
Obi, who visited the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kubwa in Abuja on Monday, emphasised that he was not desperate for any position.
“The only coalition I am interested in is the one against hunger, poverty, and the bad state of healthcare and education in the country. I am not desperate for any position,” he said.
Obi came third behind President Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, with many believing that a coalition between him, Atiku, and other opposition parties will defeat Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
The former governor of Anambra State dismissed a deal to run as a vice presidential candidate in 2027, insisting that those saying he had an agreement to deputise anyone were playing politics of selfish ambitions detrimental to the growth of the country.
Obi also made a financial donation to a school project in the diocese.
He said that because the government has failed woefully to deliver free and qualitative basic education, the church had had to bear the huge burden.
Obi was seen with a former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, exchanging pleasantries with President Tinubu after the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Sunday.
Commenting on that, the former Anambra governor said that he was not an enemy of the President and only accorded the necessary courtesy to him in Rome as protocol demanded.
He reemphasised that the only enemy he has is corruption and corrupt leaders who have made life difficult for the Nigerian people.
