Dr. Ezeh Ezeh, an Oxford-trained entrepreneur and the Labour Party’s 2023 House of Representatives candidate for Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State, during an interview with The Punch correspondent, shared his views on the coalition, Peter Obi, and related political matters.
When reminded during the interview that Peter Obi had declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidency, but that some Igbo politicians were reportedly pressuring him to accept a running mate position to Atiku Abubakar, Ezeh described the issue as a very sensitive matter.
He explained that this had been at the centre of the confusion surrounding the coalition talks. According to him, those referred to as Igbo elites—comprising politicians and businessmen—had, in his view, become Obi’s greatest political adversaries.
He said, “Again, in the run up to 2022 general elections, these same people stopped Atiku from running with PO. Although there was no reason to support their decision, I can boldly say that it is the same people that are now advising PO to be VP that actually sabotaged and used Arthur ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to confuse the ticket. Unfortunately, as everybody could see, 2023 was Atiku’s last chance.”
Ezeh Ezeh went on to say that, in his view, the 2027 presidential election might be Peter Obi’s last real opportunity to contest for the presidency, noting that Obi himself had hinted at this possibility.
He expressed confidence in Obi’s intelligence, stating that he believed Obi was well aware of the dishonest motives of those attempting to push him into accepting a running mate position to Atiku Abubakar.
According to Ezeh, those advocating for such an arrangement were merely trying to reduce Obi to a politically irrelevant figure, aiming to undermine him even if the joint ticket were to succeed.
Ezeh further argued that anyone advising Atiku to contest again in 2027 could only be seen as a strong supporter of the APC. He questioned the logic of suggesting that Obi — a politician who, according to him, had delivered nearly three zones in 2019, won clearly in 2023, enjoyed massive public support, and stood out as one of the most humble politicians in Nigeria today — should settle for a secondary role in a zoning arrangement that, by right, favoured him. He emphatically rejected the idea, saying, “Never.”
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