Peter Obi Chants Drown Out Benjamin Kalu’s Tinubu Campaign at Abia Festival
- Benjamin Kalu took the stage at the Item Okpi Festival in Abia to campaign for President Tinubu's 2027 re-election bid
- The crowd repeatedly drowned out Kalu's appeals with chants of Peter Obi's name, ignoring his attempts to regain control
- Kalu suggested the chanters were outsiders and warned the crowd about a university Tinubu was planning to build in the area
PAY ATTENTION: Mark Legit.ng as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over eight years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
Abia State - Scenes of open defiance played out at the Item Okpi Festival in Abia State on Saturday when a crowd repeatedly chanted the name of Peter Obi as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, tried to rally support for President Bola Tinubu's 2027 re-election campaign.
Kalu, who represents Bende Federal Constituency and is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), addressed the gathering at the annual cultural celebration of the people of Item Ancient Kingdom in Bende Local Government Area.
Source: Twitter
"Tinubu will do more for Abia. Vote for Tinubu in 2027. He is the best for Nigeria," Kalu told the crowd.
The audience responded not with applause but with loud, sustained chants of Obi's name.
As reported by Premium Times, an unidentified woman on the stage attempted to shift the mood by singing a pro-Tinubu campaign song, but the crowd grew louder rather than quieter.
A visibly frustrated Kalu then warned the audience in Igbo: "It doesn't look to me like you people still want the university President Tinubu is planning to build for you." The chanting continued regardless.
He also suggested the chanters were not locals, saying in Igbo, "These people are not from Item," though the crowd paid no attention. Even as he moved to the front of the stage in a final attempt to win them over, the response remained the same: "Obi, Obi!"
At one point, a woman on stage began to sing a pro-Obi song before Kalu intervened and asked her to switch to a pro-Tinubu song, which she did. The crowd's chant did not stop.
Abia's political landscape ahead of 2027
The drama reflects the complicated political terrain in Abia State. While Kalu and President Tinubu belong to the APC, Abia is governed by Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP), who is widely regarded as a political ally of Obi.
Obi and Otti previously operated within the same LP faction during a period of intense internal crisis in the party.
Obi has since left the LP, moving first to the African Democratic Party before joining the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), which ratified him as its 2027 presidential candidate on May 29, 2026.
Otti has remained in the LP and recently said he supports Tinubu as the sitting president, while acknowledging that his party has its own presidential candidate for 2027.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, remains a popular figure in the South-East, and Saturday's events in Bende suggest his support base in the region continues to present a challenge for APC's outreach efforts ahead of the general election.
Source: Facebook
Yunusa Tanko dumps Peter Obi, joins SDP
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) named Yunusa Tanko, former National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, as head of its Presidential Campaign Council for 2027.
Tanko's appointment came barely two weeks after he resigned as Peter Obi's Political Adviser for Northern Nigeria.
The former Obidient Movement chairman pledged to work with SDP presidential candidate Prince Adewale Adebayo ahead of the 2027 elections.
Source: Legit.ng
