Will Peter Obi drop his 2023 ambition for Atiku before elections? [Editor's Opinion]

Obi’s presidential ambition has earned him thousands of followers, especially the youths, who strongly believe his presidency would turn the situation of the country around.

Since his defection from the PDP to the LP in May, his popularity has exponentially grown to the point that his supporters are convinced that Obi has a better chance of winning than Atiku and Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Despite Obi’s growing political popularity, some Nigerians still believe that the soft-spoken presidential candidate may drop his ambition for Atiku, whom he has repeatedly described as his elder brother and political leader.

In 2019, Atiku picked Obi as his running mate. The former Vice President said he chose him because of his youthfulness, vast knowledge of global and local economies as well as financial experience.

Earlier this year, before the former governor of Anambra dumped the PDP for Labour Party, many had thought the PDP would again present Obi and Atiku for the 2023 election. 

As a matter of fact, when Obi announced his presidential ambition on the platform of the PDP in April, many thought he was trying to position himself for the Vice Presidential candidate position.

This notion was somehow affirmed when the former governor of Anambra State attended Atiku’s presidential declaration in March. 

Asked why he attended the official declaration of someone seeking the same position he is eyeing, Obi said he’ll always be there anytime Atiku invites him because the former VP is a good man.

“Atiku is my leader, my boss, and a senior brother. If he invites me for anything I will attend”, he said.

“Aspiring (for the presidency) does not say I should not keep my relationships very cordial.

I’m aspiring. Remember, I always say it, Atiku is a unifier. He believes in Nigeria. He’s a good man. And anytime he invites me for anything, I will be there.”

This statement attests to Obi’s absolute respect for Atiku, to the extent that he is unwilling to step on Atiku’s toes in his political comments, even when the ex-VP runs him down. 

In his recent interview with Arise TV, Atiku downplayed Obi’s chances in the 2023 election, saying it would take a miracle for the LP candidate to win the forthcoming presidential election.

Atiku based his claim on the notion that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media and that Obi’s party has no structure at the grassroots level.

Reactions to the interview on social media showed that many Nigerians including northerners found Atiku’s claim very ridiculous and instead of standing on the side of the youths who form the bulk of his support base, Obi meekly agreed with Atiku’s arrogant view.

When asked to react to Atiku’s claim, Obi said, “I agreed with what he said. It is one of the problems we are going to solve after my miraculous emergence.

“To deal with the issue of educating those 90 percent that are not on social media.

“We need to educate them, we need to ensure that we equip them because the population he mentioned is actually the timid population we need. When I said that the north, the vast north is our next oil, this is the population I need to turn that asset into production.

Obi needs to understand that responses like these give more credibility to Atiku’s candidacy over him. He continues to run himself down because he wants to appear like a nice man.

Another factor supporting the claim that Obi might be working for Atiku is his reluctance to commit his resources to his presidential campaign. 

Since he announced his 2023 ambition in March and emerged the candidate of the LP in May, Obi has not set up a media team or a campaign office to handle his programmes.

Apart from the youths pushing his candidacy on social media and coming up with initiatives to push his presidency, there’s been no official team identified with Obi’s agenda.

The former governor has been the only one travelling around to grant interviews, debunk false claims and make political statements to keep up his relevance ahead of the 2023 elections.

Obi builds everything around himself and the result of this exhaustive exercise is the shambolic interview he granted on Channels TV.

In that interview, Obi looked lost and his response to questions was mechanical throughout the interview. 

It was not a good sight for a politician millions of people consider the hope of a better Nigeria. 

If Obi is not working for Atiku as insinuated, it’s high time he stepped up his game and stopped giving the vibes of a nice man who's not really interested in the game of politics.

*Pulse Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an Editor at Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the Organisation Pulse.