“There are very few human beings who are as close as I am to Atiku. So I can’t be running from him. This man is my very respected leader and elder brother,” Obi said on Friday in Cape Town, South Africa, on the sidelines of the Spier Dialogue 2026, a pan-African governance forum.
“I don’t run from him. Never. It has nothing to do with running from anybody. I’ve never run from anybody. I just believe that I do things differently,” he said.
The remarks come against the backdrop of a bruising few months in their political relationship.
Both men had jointly adopted the African Democratic Congress as a coalition platform to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.
Obi formally joined the ADC on January 1, 2026, with Atiku welcoming him and describing the development as a landmark moment in Nigerian political coalition-building.
The alliance, however, did not hold. On his way out, Obi said his decision to leave was not due to personal issues with Atiku or party chairman David Mark, but was driven by unresolved internal conflicts and recurring legal disputes that had distracted the party from national issues.
He and the former governor of Kano State Rabiu Kwankwaso subsequently defected to the NDC, demanding an end to litigation-driven politics.