Former African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, has claimed that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is allegedly being positioned by northern political interests to run for president in 2027 — and that part of the plan involves persuading Peter Obi to step aside.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Kachikwu alleged that Jonathan had offered the former Labour Party presidential candidate the role of Coordinating Minister of the Economy in exchange for his withdrawal from the race and support for Jonathan’s candidacy.
According to Kachikwu, the move is aimed at “weakening the South” and maintaining northern dominance in Nigeria’s political power structure.
“In order to weaken the South, they have now drafted in former President Jonathan into the race who is alleged to be offering Peter Obi the position… for him to support his ambition,” he said.
Kachikwu further claimed that northern political elites have told Obi “in clear terms” that he would never secure northern votes because of his Igbo ethnicity, urging him instead to become Atiku Abubakar’s running mate.
He accused Atiku and certain northern elites of decades of political control without addressing illiteracy or poverty in the region, saying they use “region, religion, tongue, tribe, and poverty” to manipulate the masses.
On their alleged tactics, Kachikwu said:
“They convince millions of poor Northerners that a southern President Tinubu hates them and is the cause of their poverty. On a daily basis, they spread deliberate falsehoods against not only President Tinubu but all potential southern aspirants.”
Calling for unity, he urged Nigerians to “resist” what he described as an inequitable political agenda.
“We don’t burn our houses because we want to kill rats and cockroaches; sometimes we just need to make our houses clean so that rats and cockroaches leave on their own,” he said.
