Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi has explain why, in spite of some reservations being expressed by some of his supporters, he has decided to join the coalition of interests and political leaders now operating on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The coalition formally adopted the ADC as their platform on Thursday, July 3, 2025 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Center with former Senate President, Senator David Mark appointed the National Chairman and former Interior Affairs Minister and two-term Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola appointed National Secretary.
Among the political heavyweights at the event, who are also leaders of the coalition, are former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Minister of Transportation and two-term Governor of Rivers State, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El’Rufai, and Mr. Obi’s running mate in the 2023 election, Senator (Dr.) Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Some critics of the coalition, which intends to field a joint presidential candidate in the 2027 election against the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu, are saying that some of the leaders of the coalition are part of the cause of the current hydra headed problems of the country, some think that they are strange bedfellows, while some others fear that some of them cannot be trusted to remain steadfast under fire.
Mr. Obi, writing on his X (former Twitter) platform said that he joined the coalition to team up with the others “to dismantle the structures that keep our people in poverty and insecurity.” He insisted that “we must build bridges, not walls even when those bridges are uneasy.”
The former two-term Governor of Anambra State, who is being seen as a favorite to fly the flag of the ADC in the 2025 poll insisted that “No one group can change Nigeria alone,” noting that “Our commitment is to sacrifice and work together towards the 2027 General Elections, ensuring that Nigeria gets a competent, capable, and compassionate leadership that will prioritise the nation’s future by putting the welfare of Nigerians first.”
The leader of a formidable mass based movement of mostly youths from across the country, known as Obedients, Mr. Obi said, apparently to reassure his supporters, that the decision to join the coalition “was not made lightly,” stressing that “it comes from deep reflection on where we are as a country and what must be done to move forward.”
