Not Obi: Yoruba Group Mentions Presidential Candidate Obasanjo Is Allegedly Backing for 2027 Poll
- The Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of covertly backing President Tinubu's 2027 re-election ambition
- The group claimed Obasanjo used Kwankwaso as a tool to pull Peter Obi out of the ADC after failing to impose Obi as its presidential candidate
- Yoruba Ronu President Akin Malaolu said Obasanjo's letter to Segun Osoba was a deliberate attack on Nigeria's opposition parties, not just Atiku
Lagos, Nigeria - The Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum has publicly accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of working behind the scenes to secure a second term for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a statement dated Sunday, July 26 and signed by the group's president, Chief Akin Malaolu, the Lagos-based forum said Obasanjo's recent letter to former Ogun state governor Chief Segun Osoba, in which the former president made allegations against several political figures, was not a personal attack on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar but a calculated move against the Nigerian opposition.
Source: Facebook
Obasanjo's Letter and Atiku's Reply
Obasanjo's letter had included a claim that Atiku mobilised the late former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na'Abba, to impeach him during his time in office. Atiku has since fired back, accusing Obasanjo of still nursing grievances over his role in blocking what he described as Obasanjo's "ignoble Third Term agenda."
Yoruba Ronu argued that by naming Na'Abba, who is deceased, Obasanjo made an allegation the former Speaker could never answer.
"To respond to Obasanjo, he has to be resurrected from the dead, which the former President knows is impossible," the forum said in its statement.
The Alleged Tinubu Connection
The group went further, claiming that Obasanjo's public support for Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso was a smokescreen designed to conceal his backing for the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. According to Yoruba Ronu, when stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress reached out to Obasanjo ahead of the coalition-building process, he pushed strongly for Obi to be adopted as the ADC presidential candidate.
The forum alleged that Obasanjo went as far as telling Southwest leaders he would publicly withdraw his support from Obi, through a letter, if the former Anambra governor accepted the ADC's vice-presidential ticket. When that effort failed, Yoruba Ronu claimed, Obasanjo engineered the defections to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), using Kwankwaso to draw Obi away from the ADC.
The group also alleged that Obasanjo is currently working with a member of President Tinubu's family to advance the 2027 agenda, though no names were provided.
Malaolu closed the statement with a pointed remark:
"It is telling that the same man who encouraged the people of the South-west to be engaged in pan-Nigerian politics with the return to democratic rule in 1999, has today retreated into his tribal enclave to work for a politically drowning Tinubu."
Obasanjo had not issued a response to the Yoruba Ronu statement at the time of filing this report.
Babachir Lawal Predicts Winner of 2027 Presidential Election
In another development, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has said the joint ticket pairing Obi and Kwankwaso for the 2027 presidential election would give the duo a far stronger shot at victory than if either man ran alone.
Lawal offered percentage-based assessments of the leading contenders' prospects. On his own scale, Lawal put an Obi-Kwankwaso combination at close to 70 per cent, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at 50 per cent, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar at zero.
Source: Legit.ng
