Why Atiku-Obi Alliance Can’t Stop Tinubu Re-election In 2027 – Fayose

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has claimed that an alliance between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi would not prevent President Bola Tinubu from winning re-election in 2027.

This was just as the said President Tinubu will secure more than 12 million votes in the 2027 presidential election.

Fayose made the assertion during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today aired on Tuesday.

The former governor, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party working for Tinubu’s re-election, said the president would defeat Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, even if the two opposition candidates decided to contest the election together.

“It’s a three-way horse; maybe I am not putting it right. Atiku is there, and Obi is there. Even if they come together, this man (Tinubu) will still defeat them.

“But let us say they don’t come together; too bad for them because this election will be balkanised,” Fayose said.

He argued that Tinubu would enjoy substantial support across the South-West, while questioning the opposition’s ability to build a comparable political structure in the region.

“South-West will come up with not less than six million differences; I’m telling you, between five to six million. Write it down,” he said.

“Other five million, who would vote for Obi or Atiku in Ekiti? Who would vote for them in Osun? Who would vote for them in Ondo? What is their structure?

“This politics is not a tea party. Asiwaju will have over 12 million votes.”

Fayose also said the increasing difficulty of manipulating election results would make the 2027 contest more dependent on actual votes.

“To rig the election now is very difficult. Very, very difficult,” he said.

Fayose, who was appointed chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency board by Tinubu, is one of the prominent PDP figures backing the president ahead of the 2027 election.

The former governor also weighed in on the disagreement between Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and some APC governors over Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.

The APC governors have opposed political arrangements they believe could weaken the ruling party or create competing interests within its structure. Wike, however, has maintained that his focus is on securing Tinubu’s re-election rather than helping individual governors retain their seats.

Fayose said the disagreement should not be viewed as a threat to Tinubu’s electoral prospects, arguing that the Rainbow Coalition could still be useful if it delivers votes for the president.

“If Rainbow works for Wike in Rivers, and it can bring results, that’s all the president wants,” he said.

“If Rainbow works and can give him numbers, you understand? So be it.”

According to Fayose, Wike’s political influence could be significant in Rivers State, but he questioned whether the former governor had attempted to establish the same arrangement in other states.

“As a man, who could flip an election, for a governorship candidate of people, and the PDP also could. If they have the capacity, and that they have done it, then he has capacity to do it in some states,” Fayose said.

He maintained that the differences between Wike and the APC governors did not amount to a division within the camp supporting Tinubu.

“The method that works for A might not work for B. And this is not even playing to the hands of the opposition, because the two of them are united behind the president,” he said.

Fayose added that political disagreements were expected when different interests and ambitions were involved.