…Obi: Nigeria in Emergency, Must be Rescued
…Morka: Opposition Unserious; APC Will Sweep 2027 Elections
By Abu Adamu
Fresh insights have emerged from within the camp of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with a top insider expressing strong confidence that the opposition leader is well-positioned to win the 2027 presidential election.
The source, who spoke exclusively to KTH Daily, disclosed that Atiku’s strategy hinges on consolidating what was described as the enduring political structure of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in Northern Nigeria—estimated at a “locked-in” 12 million vote base.
According to the insider, Buhari had, before his passing, given his blessings for Atiku to inherit the structure and pursue the presidency, a factor said to explain the alignment of key figures from the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc with Atiku. Among those mentioned was former Attorney-General Abubakar Malami, alongside other influential northern operatives.
The source further claimed that Buhari had quietly supported Atiku’s presidential bid against Bola Tinubu in 2023, suggesting that the foundation for the current political alignment had long been in place.
Outlining the electoral pathway being projected by the Atiku camp, the insider said victory would come from a combination of sweeping Buhari’s northern vote base, dominating the North-East, while allowing Labour Party’s 2023 candidate, Peter Obi, to retain strength in the South-East and parts of the South-South. The South-West, the source argued, would be split between Obi and President Tinubu, thereby weakening the incumbent’s traditional stronghold.
Central to this calculation, the source added, is a broader strategy to deny Tinubu significant traction in both the North and South-East, while also chipping away at his influence in the South-South—ultimately pushing him into a distant third-place finish.
The source also claimed that the leader of the Kwankwasiya movement, former Defence Minister, Rabiu Kwakwanso’s role is to deny Tinubu any significant number of votes in Kano, northern Nigeria’s voting powerhouse.
The projection aligns with a recent assertion by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who in a 2025 television interview predicted that Tinubu could fail to make it into a potential runoff. El-Rufai had argued that the President lacks a viable pathway to victory and could, at best, place third if current political dynamics persist.
Within Atiku’s camp, this scenario is seen as paving the way for a second-round contest, potentially between Atiku and Obi.
Meanwhile, the opposition landscape continues to shift. Peter Obi, on Monday, spoke of his defection from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), alongside former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso.
In a detailed statement, Obi said the move was driven by a desire to continue the struggle for “a new Nigeria built on justice, competence, accountability, and compassion,” insisting it was not motivated by personal ambition but by national urgency.
He also blamed internal crises and what he described as orchestrated litigations within parties for limiting effective participation by key actors, warning against actions that could weaken Nigeria’s democratic space.
However, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the opposition realignments as unserious. Its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, criticised Obi and Kwankwaso for what he termed habitual party-switching, accusing them of seeking “cheap platforms” to secure presidential tickets rather than building sustainable political structures.
Morka maintained that the APC was not responsible for internal crises within opposition parties, describing such claims as baseless, while insisting that the ruling party remains firmly in control ahead of 2027.
As political permutations intensify, the Atiku camp appears undeterred, betting heavily on northern consolidation and opposition fragmentation as the pathway to unseating the incumbent in what is shaping up to be a fiercely contested race.