Peter Obi’s camp claims a plot to block his 2027 presidential bid…

The press office of Peter Obi, the Labor Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, has accused President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress of orchestrating a systematic campaign to deny Obi a platform for the 2027 presidential election.

In a statement signed by spokesperson Ibrahim Umar on Friday, the Peter Obi Media Office (POMR) said the plan – in place since the 2023 elections – involved a deliberate destabilization of the Labor Party, manipulation of the judiciary and the engineering of legislative amendments aimed at Obi’s new political platform.

The statement said that despite an April 2025 Supreme Court ruling resolving a leadership dispute within the Labor Party, rival factions backed by government influence continued to exploit the lower courts to frustrate the apex court’s decision. Obi exited the party on December 31, 2025, a move that, according to the statement, was confirmed when the same courts that had resisted the Supreme Court’s authority suddenly dismissed cases linked to faction leader Julius Abure just a week later.

Following Obi’s alignment with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the statement said the ruling party pushed through an amendment to the electoral law specifically designed to put pressure on the ADC and undermine its presidential ambitions.

The statement identified two flashpoints that it said have intensified the ruling party’s hostility: Obi’s visit on March 22, 2026, to former Kano governor and 2023 NNPP presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, and the ADC rally in Kano on March 30, where Kwankwaso formally joined the coalition.

Following the demonstration, the statement alleges, the Independent National Electoral Commission was manipulated to reinterpret a Court of Appeal ruling, resulting in the removal of the ADC leadership and putting Obi’s candidacy at risk.

Point and Kill Politics, by Lasisi Olagunju

“They are attempting to create the illusion of democratic choice by supporting surrogates in various political parties while engineering a one-party system in a nation of more than 200 million people,” the statement read.

POMR called on Nigerian and international stakeholders to resist what it described as a plot to entrench a one-party dictatorship and ensure that Obi can present his candidacy to the electorate before the 2027 elections.

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