2027: Atiku’s supporters fighting Obi, not Tinubu – Galadima

The crisis within Nigeria’s opposition deepened on Wednesday after Buba Galadima accused supporters of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of attacking Peter Obi instead of confronting President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Galadima, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, said supporters of the Peter Obi-Rabiu Kwankwaso ticket were being insulted and accused of attempting to impose an Igbo candidate on Nigeria.

He spoke during an appearance on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme while defending calls for greater political cooperation between the North and the South-East ahead of the 2027 election.

According to Galadima, the attacks are coming not only from the APC but also from rival opposition figures who should be working towards defeating the ruling party.

“We have been called several names, saying we are bringing an Igbo man,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not only the government of APC. Even some opposition political parties, instead of us fighting our common opponent, that is the APC and its government, we are fighting ourselves.”

Galadima reserved his sharpest response for supporters of Atiku, questioning their justification for attacking Obi after the former vice-president selected him as his running mate in the 2019 presidential election.

“And we asked, where did we pick Obi from? Where did we get Obi from? We got Obi from Atiku. He was his vice-presidential candidate,” he said.

Galadima also recalled that Atiku had previously selected Ben Obi, Peter Obi and Ifeanyi Okowa as running mates during his different presidential campaigns.

He consequently questioned why anyone supporting Atiku would condemn the proposed alliance on the grounds that it promotes an Igbo candidate.

Beyond the current opposition battle, Galadima argued that political cooperation between the North and the South-East was not new.

He cited the alliance between the Northern People’s Congress and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons around the time of independence.

Galadima recalled that northern leaders, including Ahmadu Bello and Kashim Ibrahim, worked with Nnamdi Azikiwe and other NCNC leaders during the struggle to end colonial rule.

Following independence, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became prime minister while Azikiwe served as Governor-General before becoming Nigeria’s first president in 1963.

Galadima said the arrangement reflected Nigeria’s unity in diversity before the military coup of 1966 brought the First Republic to an end.

He rejected attempts to blame civilian leaders or ethnic groups for the collapse of that government, insisting that the military was responsible for destroying the democratic system.

The NDC chieftain maintained that the Obi-Kwankwaso alliance should be viewed as a national political partnership rather than an ethnic project.