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2027: David Umahi Dismisses Peter Obi’s Presidential Ambition, Says South-East Has No Credible Candidate
2027: David Umahi Dismisses Peter Obi’s Presidential Ambition, Says South-East Has No Credible Candidate
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has stirred fresh political controversy ahead of the 2027 general election after dismissing the presidential ambition of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, describing him as “nobody” while insisting that the South-East has no credible presidential candidate for the forthcoming election.
Umahi, a former governor of Ebonyi State, urged political stakeholders and residents of the South-East to abandon what he described as sentimental Politics and embrace strategic alliances with other regions, arguing that supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid could strengthen the region’s chances of producing Nigeria’s president in the future.
The minister made the remarks on Sunday during a town hall meeting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital. The meeting was organised by the Directorate of Infrastructure, Mobilisation and Sensitisation of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council as part of efforts to mobilise support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Umahi maintained that the South-East needed to approach the question of presidential power with political calculations and long-term interests rather than relying on emotional appeals, social media campaigns or confrontations with political opponents.
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He argued that the region would stand a better chance of securing the presidency through sustained political cooperation and alliances with other parts of the country, particularly if it supported the current administration for another four years.
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According to the minister, it would be unrealistic to expect northern political stakeholders to readily accept a situation in which an Igbo president served only one four-year term before handing over power to another region.
“There is no way an Igbo man, after staying for 60 years, will want to be President for four years. There is nobody that can accept that. The North has not accepted to be President for four years,” he said.
The remarks appeared to target Obi’s position that, if elected president in 2027, he would serve only one four-year term and hand over power in 2031, which he believes would be the North’s turn to produce the president.
Obi, who has emerged as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has consistently presented his proposed one-term presidency as a commitment to national unity, political fairness and the need to prioritise Nigeria’s development over the pursuit of extended political tenure.
However, Umahi questioned the political viability of such an arrangement, insisting that the South-East must build stronger relationships with other regions rather than assume that appeals to fairness or regional representation would automatically translate into presidential power.
The minister also called on traditional rulers and religious leaders across the South-East to openly declare their political positions ahead of the election, urging them to guide their communities towards what he described as a more strategic political direction.
Umahi warned against what he considered the growing influence of emotional rhetoric and hostility on social media, arguing that such an approach could undermine the region’s broader political interests.
“Igbo man needs wisdom, not sentiments. Igbo man should not allow people to be dishing hate speeches on social media on their behalf,” he said.
Defending the Tinubu administration, Umahi maintained that the South-East had become more integrated into the federal government under the current President, pointing to appointments into strategic government positions and what he described as renewed attention to infrastructure and economic activities.
The minister cited his own position as Minister of Works and the appointment of an indigene of the South-East as Chief of the Air Staff as examples of the region’s participation in the current administration.
He further argued that developments in commerce and road infrastructure had contributed to an improved relationship between the region and the Federal Government.
“Today, our people in Commerce, we clear our goods with ease. Today, our roads are being revived in the path of economic activities. Today, we can boldly say we have been integrated,” Umahi stated.
He added, “The last time there was choosing of service chiefs, it was Naval Chief. This time, it is Chief of Air Staff, Minister of Works, other ministers, SSAs, what else? When I say South-East have been fully integrated and included, I mean it.”
Umahi insisted that the region should view political cooperation with the ruling All Progressives Congress as an investment in its long-term national aspirations, arguing that supporting Tinubu in 2027 could help establish the relationships necessary for the South-East to seek the presidency under more favourable circumstances in the future.
He maintained that the region should not expect to secure the nation’s highest political office through online campaigns, hostility towards opposing political camps or appeals based solely on ethnic identity.
“My mouth will not shut up because I am telling our people for a reference for tomorrow.
We are supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to finish his remaining four years so that the South-East would have strategically supported another region.
So that when it is our turn, we will not get this thing by hate speeches, they will not give to us by sentiments. It is strategic,” he said.
The minister’s position places him firmly behind Tinubu’s re-election campaign and reflects an approach that prioritises political alliances over the immediate pursuit of presidential power by a candidate from the South-East.
Umahi also took aim at supporters of Obi, accusing them of treating political disagreement as an act of sabotage and questioning why the former Anambra governor should be considered more qualified than other prominent political figures from the region.
He specifically mentioned former Ebonyi State Governor Sam Egwu, former Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission Elias Mbam, former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim and himself, arguing that the South-East had several accomplished political figures whose credentials deserved consideration.
“You insult anybody that is not supporting Peter Obi. Anybody that is not supporting Peter Obi is a saboteur, you insult the person.
“Who is Peter Obi better than, who is he better than? Is he better than Sam Egwu? Is he better than Elias Mbam? Is he better than the Lion of South-East, myself? Is he better than Anyim Pius? Who is he better than?” he asked.
Umahi subsequently declared that the South-East had no presidential candidate for the 2027 election, despite Obi’s emergence as the NDC’s presidential flag bearer.
“So, I don’t want us to be deceiving ourselves. We don’t have any presidential candidate in South-East. We have people that are vying. Ebonyi has a right to make a choice,” he said.
The statement underscores the political divisions surrounding the question of who should represent the South-East in the contest for the presidency, with Umahi arguing that the emergence of a candidate from the region does not automatically guarantee the political consensus or national support required to win the election.
Beyond advocating support for Tinubu, the minister also set an ambitious electoral target for Ebonyi State, pledging to mobilise 1.3 million votes for the President and Governor Francis Nwifuru in the 2027 general election.
Umahi said Ebonyi had approximately 1.8 million registered voters and maintained that the state should deliver a substantial proportion of those votes to the APC candidates.
“We have 1.8 million registered voters in Ebonyi State. Let me tell you, if we are not donating 1.3 million votes for the President, for the governor, we are doing ourselves a disservice,” he said.
His declaration signals an intensification of the APC’s mobilisation efforts in Ebonyi, where party leaders are seeking to consolidate support for Tinubu’s re-election and Nwifuru’s political interests ahead of the 2027 polls.
Meanwhile, Obi has continued to present himself as a credible alternative to Tinubu and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, maintaining that his experience in governance, commitment to public service and proposed reforms position him to address Nigeria’s economic and security challenges.
During a recent town hall meeting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the former Anambra governor interacted with traders and residents, discussing the country’s economic difficulties and outlining his proposed approach to national development.
Obi criticised the Tinubu administration over rising poverty, hunger, insecurity and public debt. He also questioned the President’s frequent foreign trips, claiming that Tinubu had spent more than 260 days outside Nigeria without spending a night in Imo State since assuming office.
The former governor further claimed that more than 140 million Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty, while approximately 18 million children were out of school, figures he cited to highlight the scale of the country’s socioeconomic challenges.
Despite the difficulties, Obi urged Nigerians to remain hopeful, promising that his proposed administration would prioritise security, national unity, healthcare, education and poverty reduction.
He also called on his supporters to remain vigilant during the 2027 elections, stressing the importance of protecting their votes and remaining at polling units until the final results were announced.
“Among the leading contenders, we believe we possess the experience, competence, capacity, commitment and readiness required to undertake the difficult but necessary task of turning Nigeria around,” Obi said.
With the 2027 general election approaching, the contrasting positions of Umahi and Obi highlight a deepening debate over the South-East’s political strategy, the question of regional representation and the alliances considered necessary to secure the presidency.
While Umahi insists that supporting Tinubu represents a strategic investment in the South-East’s future political aspirations, Obi’s campaign continues to emphasise competence, national transformation and the possibility of a new direction for Nigeria.
The emerging contest is therefore not only about the candidates seeking the presidency but also about competing visions of how the South-East can secure greater political influence and advance its interests within Nigeria’s evolving political landscape.
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