2027: Abure rules out Obi, opens door to Tinubu, Atiku

Former National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has ruled out supporting Peter Obi in the 2027 presidential election, declaring his readiness to align with President Bola Tinubu or former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Abure said he was willing to negotiate with either of the two political heavyweights, provided their political interests and ideology aligned with his, while also considering the acceptability of their candidacies.

He, however, vowed to mobilise his supporters against Obi, accusing the former Anambra State governor of squandering the goodwill, political structure and support that propelled his strong performance in the 2023 presidential election.

The former LP chairman disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, explaining that his political decision would also depend on the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case over the party’s leadership.

Abure said he would consult his supporters and decide on a preferred candidate if the apex court failed to deliver its judgment before the end of November.

“As for me, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide our case, and if the judgment is not coming before the end of this November, we will rationalise the offer of whoever wants our support.

“However, it must tally with our interest and ideology, and he must be a sellable candidate. Once these are settled, our faces will be everywhere. I am talking about the same faces that took Peter Obi everywhere in 2023,” he said.

Abure added that although he was open to working with major presidential contenders, Obi was the only candidate he had completely ruled out.

He said, “We are open to working with any of the major candidates, but as former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, said, ‘I know whom I will not hand over to. But I don’t know who I will hand over to.’

“So, similarly, I am very sure that I wouldn’t support Peter Obi for the 2027 general election. But I am open to an alignment with others.”

‘Obi is nobody, not better than me’ – Umahi

The former LP chairman also ruled out supporting the Nigeria Democratic Congress because of Obi’s presence in the party, insisting that he was not currently negotiating with any presidential candidate.

“Yes, obviously the NDC is not included. I don’t see any reason to support Peter Obi again. I will not. And I am saying this with conviction and without any fear of contradiction.

“However, as of now, I am not in talks with any candidate yet. This is because it’s not just about me. It’s also about my followers and their interests,” he said.

Abure maintained that his supporters remained loyal to the party structure he controlled despite the defection of some members to other political platforms.

He accused Obi and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, of undermining the party’s leadership and dismantling its organisational structure from the ward level to the national level.

“Right now, they are standing by the structure of the party, the same one Otti and the illegal leadership he forced on the Labour Party sacked from wards, states to national level. What these people did to this party was a big disservice. But we know that I was their target,” he said.

The disagreement between Abure and Obi followed a prolonged leadership crisis in the Labour Party, particularly over the conduct of its national convention and control of the party’s organisational structure.

While Abure accused Obi and Otti of worsening the crisis by establishing a parallel National Working Committee in Owerri, allies of the former presidential candidate argued that Abure violated an earlier agreement to conduct an inclusive convention beginning at the ward and state levels before the national convention.

The dispute eventually widened the rift between both camps, with Obi moving away from the Labour Party structure and subsequently joining the NDC.

Abure criticised Obi’s handling of the crisis, questioning his capacity to govern the country after allegedly failing to manage a political party.

“Obi’s behaviour in the Labour Party is now what people are using to assess if he can truly lead the country. This is because if you can’t lead a micro, there is no way you can lead a macro,” he said.

He also faulted Obi’s movement from the Labour Party to the African Democratic Congress before joining the NDC, alleging that the former governor expected to reproduce the leadership struggle in his previous political platform.

Abure claimed that Obi left the ADC after failing to secure his preferred political outcome, while some of his supporters remained in the party and others followed him to the NDC.

On whether Obi would enjoy the political freedom he allegedly had under his leadership in the Labour Party, Abure said the situation in the NDC was different.

He argued that the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, remained firmly in control and was unlikely to relinquish its leadership.

“No way! Let Obi compare the freedom and leverage he enjoyed under our leadership to what he is experiencing in the NDC; he already knows the difference. You can see that Senator Dickson is fully in charge and he’s not giving up the party’s leadership,” he said.

Abure predicted that Obi would perform below his 2023 electoral showing, claiming that the former governor had lost the political goodwill and organisational machinery that helped him secure more than six million votes.

“Let me say clearly that Obi will not record the successes he recorded in the 2023 general election. That is because he has squandered his goodwill, human capital, resources, and mismanaged all the gains he had in 2023,” he said.

However, the NDC dismissed Abure’s position, saying the party and its presidential candidate were focused on the 2027 election.

The spokesperson for the NDC Presidential Campaign Council, Constance Ikokwu, told The PUNCH that Obi was concentrating on his campaign and efforts to lead a national political movement.

“In the light of that, all we can say is good luck to Mr Julius Abure in his new ventures,” she said.

Similarly, Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri, said the former LP chairman was no longer relevant to the campaign’s immediate priorities.

“We no longer talk about Abure. We have moved on from them. We have an election less than 70 days away, and then we are campaigning,” Zekeri said.

He urged Nigerians who believed in equity, justice, fairness, capacity, compassion and competence to support Obi, whom he described as the most qualified candidate to move the country forward.

Zekeri also described Abure’s decision not to support Obi as a product of personal grievances rather than national interest.

“The individual you mentioned (Abure) has now said he doesn’t want to support Obi, and his reason for that was that he has an axe to grind. I think he should be asking himself why he should place his personal sentiment and belief above national interest. But that is up to him.

“However, we are not discussing him. He is not critical to what we are doing at this time,” he added.