Former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Osuntokun, has said the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will only return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if he will be given the presidential ticket in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Monday, Osuntokun said Obi going back to the PDP would have to depend on the circumstances and the assurances from the party’s political godfathers.
He added that the only chance of Obi accepting to rejoin the PDP is if he would be offered the party’s presidential ticket in 2027.
He said, “Peter Obi going back to the PDP would have to depend on the circumstances and the assurances from the political godfathers of the PDP. The thing is that it’s unrealistic to expect someone who has run for the president to now accept to be a running mate for whoever assumes the superior position.
“That’s because Obi has a unique political appeal among Nigerians. If it’s possible to do it like the way they do in the United States by analyzing the demographic groups that support each candidate, we would find a situation in which Obi carried about 90 per cent of the youth population. And if he chooses to be a running mate, those people are going to be disappointed and offended.
“The only way that Peter Obi could consider returning to the PDP is if he would be given the party’s presidential ticket. Otherwise, he would not embark on a futile exercise. Because if he becomes a running mate in PDP, he will lose a lot of his support. He would be demonized as a sellout.
“So I can’t see the point of his going back to the PDP other than being its presidential candidate.”
Recall that the 2023 presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, had recently said if the party decided to zone the presidential ticket to the South-East in 2027 and picked Obi as its candidate, he would readily offer his support.
The former vice president also stated that a merger between the PDP and LP is possible ahead of the 2027 general elections.
