A former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Simon Okeke, has advised erstwhile vice-president Atiku Abubakar to support former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as the flagbearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2027 elections.
Speaking via a statement on Tuesday, Okeke described Obi as the most nationally acceptable presidential aspirant in Nigeria’s political history.
He acknowledged that Obi, like every human being, is not perfect and may fall short in some areas, but insisted that no aspirant in the nation has been accepted like the former Anambra governor.
“Nonetheless, among all the presidential aspirants today, he is the most acceptable nationwide. At no time in the political history of Nigeria… has any candidate from any part of Nigeria enjoyed such a universal nationwide acceptance,” the statement reads.
He said Atiku has an opportunity to reciprocate the support he enjoyed from the south-east during his previous presidential bids, including the 2023 elections.
Okeke urged the former vice-president to step aside and throw his weight behind Obi, citing the political convention that the presidency should rotate to the south.
“One would expect that the 2027 contest will give Alhaji Atiku a good opportunity to reciprocate the same support he has progressively received from the South East by him not only withdrawing from the contest, which by convention is for Southern candidates to serve out balance of term of 4 years, but to throw his weight behind Peter Obi.”
“Failure to do this will portray him to be opposite of what we thought he is, a true friend of Ndigbo. He needs to show appreciation of our South East support for his several presidential bids,” he said.
The former PSC chairman also appealed to northerners and south westerners to support Obi’s candidacy on grounds of equity and justice.
He added that an Obi presidency would help “put the burden of the Nigeria-Biafra war behind us permanently.”