Amid early strategising ahead of the 2027 presidential election, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has claimed that opposition figure Peter Obi lacks the political strength to win votes in northern Nigeria.
Speaking on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television, Keyamo said President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have well-established political structures in the North, which the opposition cannot match.
He also dismissed the new opposition coalition formed under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), saying it lacks the demographic strength to challenge the APC.
“They’re going nowhere in terms of demography,” he asserted. “I appreciate the pressure they bring—it keeps us on our toes. But the numbers don’t favour them.”
According to Keyamo, the opposition is planning to unite Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar to challenge Tinubu in 2027. However, he argued this move would fail because the demographic forces that favoured Obi in 2023 would no longer apply.
“In 2023, three factors worked for Obi: he was the only Christian among Muslim candidates, which consolidated Christian support; the South-East felt marginalised and rallied behind their own; and many young Nigerians backed him as the youngest candidate,” he explained.
“But if he becomes a running mate or a candidate again, those demographics will collapse. He still won’t be able to break into the North. We have governors and structures there.”
Keyamo added that the ADC-led coalition, which includes prominent political figures such as Atiku, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir El-Rufai, remains unlikely to succeed against Tinubu, who is expected to seek re-election to complete the traditional North-South rotation of power.
He noted that although Atiku and Obi jointly secured over 12 million votes in 2023—surpassing Tinubu’s total by over four million—this did not translate to victory, and he expressed confidence it would not do so in 2027 either.
Meanwhile, critics of Tinubu’s administration continue to accuse his government of economic mismanagement, citing soaring inflation and a worsening cost of living.