The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, for the 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has dismissed concerns over growing political support for President Bola Tinubu from state governors, insisting that governors do not determine election outcomes.
Obi also pledged to engage and listen to agitators across the country, saying dialogue and sacrifice would be central to his efforts to rebuild national unity if elected president.
Speaking in an interview with NoireTV, the former Anambra governor said his performance in the 2023 presidential election showed that political endorsements by governors were not decisive.
“It doesn’t matter whether 36 governors are with the president. I didn’t have one governor in the last election, and I won 12 states,” Obi said.
“Even after they have stolen two from me, I won 12 states. By making Abuja a state, we now have 37 states, because that is what the judgment of the Supreme Court showed.
“Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso won one state, Kano. APC, PDP and Labour all won 12 states each. And in it, I lost two by the process of rigging. So, I would have had 14.”
Obi repeated his claim that he was rigged out of two states during the 2023 presidential election, although the outcome of the poll was upheld by the courts, including the Supreme Court.
He argued that the 2027 election should be about improving the welfare of Nigerians rather than political alliances and elite endorsements.
“So it doesn’t matter whether they took all the governors. What is important, and what this election is going to be all about, is how to make Nigeria work for the poor,” he said.
“A Nigeria where tribe, ethnicity and religion will not be the issue. The issue will be about the welfare of the people, the education of the people and the health of the people. That’s the Nigeria we want. Nigerians are hungry today. Nigerians are looking for food.”
