By Emmanuel Aziken
How the El-Rufai family jumped full circle from bashers of Peter Obi to his leading cheerleader in Northern Nigeria may not be directly linked to Nwakaego El-Rufai, wife of Bashir El-Rufai.
The El-Rufai family, with Bashir in the lead, was not too long ago easily identified as the primary bashers of Peter Obi.
However, earlier this week, the family appeared to have turned full circle when Bashir went on Twitter to predict that Obi, pairing with a wholesome Northern running mate, would win the 2027 election even before Remi Tinubu finishes preparing her husband’s breakfast on election day.
Such predictions of invincibility, however, are leading to confusion in the ranks of the anti-Tinubu coalition framed around the African Democratic Congress, ADC. For a group mocked by Tinubu’s supporters as the Alliance of Displaced or Desperate Candidates, it is increasingly becoming evident that the group could be living up to that moniker. Remarkably, Obi appears to be at the centre of the confusion.
After running with Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 election, Obi was frozen out in 2023 by the wheeling-dealing of Atiku and Nyesom Wike. Reportedly desperate for cash to fund his campaign, Atiku chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate in 2023. That decision came after Wike, through political contrivance, removed Obi from reckoning in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even making him irrelevant in his native Anambra State.
It was against this background that Doyin Okupe and some others in 2022 mobilised to drive the Obi phenomenon that shook the political landscape in 2023. Obi became the single most revealing political phenomenon during that election cycle. His name alone was enough to win elections for the Labour Party—even in areas where they didn’t have candidates or where those candidates didn’t campaign.
It is now claimed in some political circles that the camp of the APC candidate in 2023, Bola Tinubu, may have covertly pumped up Obi’s candidacy with the intention of dividing the unity of the opposition around Tinubu and the APC. Tinubu, it is recalled, was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with about 38% of the total votes, reflecting the tightness of the 2023 race. Had Obi and Atiku combined, the story may have been different.
Dr Okupe is now dead and is not alive to defend himself against any participation in such a conspiracy. That conspiracy gained more traction due to the blind support Okupe gave to the Tinubu administration’s frailties shortly before his death.
Obidients, as Obi’s supporters are called, believe that he won the 2023 election but that it was stolen from him because he could not defend the votes. It is such an assertion that has led to the idea of a collaboration between Obi and Atiku for the purpose of building a formidable political machine that can win and defend the opposition’s votes in 2027.
Your correspondent is aware of talks that have been going on for almost a year between Atiku and Obi—both within and outside the country—towards that endeavour. Part of the strategy, as was reported here last week, was for Atiku to run for one term and work out a constitutional amendment for a five-year single term from which Obi would benefit.
It was reflective of that alliance that months ago, the Atiku media team repeatedly intervened—if not attempted to blackmail—Reno Omokri and Daniel Bwala to lay off their focus from Peter Obi.
However, the music from Obi has been laced with confusion. Fired by the unbridled enthusiasm of many Obidients, Obi, it appears, may opt out of the deal with Atiku. His supporters are telling him that he can go it alone and win.
The increasing support from the El-Rufai family appears to be strengthening his resolve. Obi has in the last few days repeatedly declared that he would be on the 2027 ballot—statements that appear to put his supposed alliance with Atiku in question.
Because the Atiku camp believes that Obi is its easiest path to 2027, the presidential marathoner appears for now to be condoning Obi.
For the Tinubu camp, breaking down the alliance of the oppositionists appears to be an obsession. Apart from the apparent sponsorship of renegade officers claiming superiority over the David Mark-led ADC, they appear to have found a new leg-puller in rehabilitating the PDP into a functional alternative to distract the ADC.
The PDP—or the carcass that is left of it, now almost wholly in the control of Wike—is now said to be offering Peter Obi its 2027 ticket. The invitation to treat for Obi, as everyone knows, is a poisoned chalice. But for Obi, who appears to be desperate—if not for himself, then to remove the Tinubu hegemony—any offer is worth considering, even if it is poison.
For a man who has won a reputation for his sacrifices and demonstration of good governance, the choices before Obi are indeed not to be envied. It is even more difficult for him, given the holler from the Obidient family who insist it is Obi or nothing.
He is indeed between the devil and the deep blue sea. Should Tinubu—who has been credited with excellence in politicking—be able to dismantle the oppositionists, he will not only win more aplomb for his political dexterity but also confirm the moniker of the ADC as the Alliance of Desperate Candidates.
The post Peter Obi and the alliance of desperate candidates appeared first on Vanguard News.
