Former Labour Party presidential campaign spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said Peter Obi’s recent commitment to serve only one term if elected in 2027 is a deliberate political calculation to gain support from northern voters.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Okonkwo explained that Obi recognised the risk of losing northern backing without such a pledge.
“So I brought the theory as a way for any opposition party to inspire Nigerians to know that each side will not lose when they make any choice, whether north or south.
“So, it was even Atiku Abubakar that first of all said he was going to do one term, then Peter Obi now keyed into it because he knows that if he, as a younger person, does not make that promise, he loses the entire North,” he said.
According to him, the one-term arrangement was meant to assure both regions that power rotation would remain intact.
“So it’s purely a political strategy to say, ‘Look, I am not going to cut the eight years. I’m not going to shortchange you. So if I am elected, I will just do only four years to complete the eight years of the South.’ So that’s just the whole idea about it,” he stated.
Okonkwo added that any opposition party intent on defeating an incumbent must embrace the single-term strategy to avoid alienating either side of the country.
“I was the one who propounded it (one-term presidency) as a theory, saying that any party that is serious about fighting an incumbent must have to say that whoever is going to contest should have to do one term so that no side will feel cheated.
“So if you are a southerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the northerners will say you want to do another eight years, which will offend the system. If you are a northerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the southerners will say that means you want to cut us short early,” he said.
Okonkwo, who left the Labour Party recently over internal disputes and accused Obi of weak leadership, was among Obi’s key campaign figures during the 2023 polls.
Obi, who ran as the Labour Party’s candidate in 2023, has confirmed his intention to contest again in 2027. In a recent X Spaces session, the former Anambra governor said he would serve only one four-year term if elected, promising to stabilise the country within his first two years.
He also ruled out a joint ticket with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar but said he remained open to coalition discussions focused on insecurity, economic revival and poverty reduction.
The post Why Peter Obi made one-term pledge – Kenneth Okonkwo appeared first on Vanguard News.
