A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) reconciliation committee, Eddy Olafeso, has stated that the party must reach out to Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and other opposition leaders to form an alliance capable of defeating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Obi, who was a PDP member before defecting to the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 elections, secured 6,101,533 votes, placing third behind President Bola Tinubu of the APC, who won with 8,794,726 votes, and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, who garnered 6,984,520 votes.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, Olafeso was asked if the crisis-ridden PDP needed to court Obi to stand a chance against APC in 2027. He responded, “Not only Peter Obi, every person that is somebody in this country that can actually garner one or two votes must be spoken with.”
The PDP chieftain emphasized the necessity of a strong opposition coalition, arguing that it would be difficult for a single party to unseat the ruling APC. “It is not only here that you have alliances; you have people working together to be able to win an election,” he said. “It happened in Ghana not quite a long time ago, and that is exactly what we all should do at this moment. No single party can defeat APC alone, don’t let us delude ourselves. We must all come together to fight.”
Olafeso blamed the PDP leadership for allowing internal divisions to weaken the party ahead of the 2023 elections, which ultimately contributed to its defeat. He lamented that the failure to retain Obi in PDP cost them a stronger chance at victory, saying, “The combination of Atiku and Obi’s votes would have sent Tinubu to a distant second.”
The PDP has been plagued by a lingering crisis, particularly the unresolved feud between Atiku and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, who clashed after the party’s 2022 presidential primary. Despite this, Olafeso expressed optimism that reconciliation efforts could unite the party before 2027. “The rift between Atiku and Wike is not irreconcilable. I am confident that the party will walk through that door and bring everybody together,” he said.
