By Egharevba Aiseosa
2027: Obi’s 2023 Support Base Will Collapse — Keyamo
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed the chances of Labour Party’s Peter Obi replicating his 2023 electoral performance in the upcoming 2027 presidential election, arguing that the factors that buoyed his popularity last time will not stand the test of time.
Speaking on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, Keyamo attributed Obi’s 2023 rise to three key demographic elements, religious sentiment, ethnic loyalty, and youth mobilization ,which he said have already begun to weaken.
“Three demographic factors delivered Peter Obi in 2023, but the three will collapse,” Keyamo stated confidently.
According to the APC chieftain, Obi benefited from a religiously polarized electorate, with many Christian voters aligning behind him as the only major Christian candidate.
He also pointed to strong ethnic solidarity from the South-East, where many voters rallied behind Obi as an Igbo candidate, and the energy of the Obidient Movement, made up largely of disenchanted young Nigerians seeking change.
“The other candidates were Muslims, and so there was only one Christian candidate, and the Christians went to one candidate,” he said.
“The South-East felt cheated, so the South-East went to one point because of the Igbo man”
On the youth movement, he added:
“The Obidients, young Nigerians who felt they were angry, they wanted a younger person and all of that because the other candidates were older than him.”
Keyamo, a prominent figure in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), argued that these elements will not hold sway in 2027, especially if Obi enters an alliance with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a possibility being speculated in political circles.
Also read: Keyamo: Tinubu’s Leadership Will Be Valued in Time
“This so-called ADC, in 2027, what they are working on is to bring Peter Obi and Atiku together to join those numbers and beat our over eight million votes. Let me tell you why it is wrong.”
Keyamo expressed confidence in APC’s political dominance in northern Nigeria, citing the party’s entrenched structures and state-level control in the region.
“If you put Peter Obi this time as president, he cannot penetrate the north. We have our structures in the north. We have governors and our structures in the north,” he said.
While acknowledging that opposition movements are keeping the ruling party alert,
Keyamo emphasized that the political math does not favor them. “They are going nowhere in terms of demography. I like what is happening; they are putting us on our toes; it is going to make us work harder, but the numbers are not looking good for them,” he concluded.