Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has issued a stark warning to the African Democratic Congress on the eve of its national convention, declaring he would abandon the party without hesitation if its presidential primary is compromised — a statement that drew an immediate rebuke from the presidency, which branded him Nigeria’s most “opportunistic and inconsistent politician.”
Obi, the ADC’s leading presidential aspirant for the 2027 elections, made the remarks during an interview on Arise News Prime Time on Monday, where he also mounted a defence of his history of moving across political parties, insisting his departures have always been guided by principle rather than opportunism.
“If I Have to Move 20 Times, I Will”
Obi traced the arc of each of his previous party exits, presenting them as acts of conscience rather than convenience.
“I moved from APGA to the PDP because of issues with my successor. Rather than allow it to become toxic and become destructive to the governance of the State, I moved out,” he said.
On his departure from the PDP, Obi was equally direct, accusing the party of entrenching a culture of transactional politics. “In PDP, I left for the LP because people were not playing by the rules. It was transactional. I cannot be part of transactional primaries. I cannot be paying people to go and serve them,” he said.
When asked directly whether he would leave the ADC under similar circumstances, Obi did not mince words.
“I don’t have a long time in politics. But if I have a long time, if I have to do it 20 times, I will do it exactly — leave the ADC. I will not be part of compromise. I cannot be talking about change while being in the process of the same thing,” he said.
A Warning Wrapped in Self-Awareness
Obi acknowledged the irony of finding himself in the ADC alongside some of the same individuals he had previously left behind in other parties, but said what matters is present conduct rather than past associations. “I am in ADC with the same people, some of whom I left in PDP and other parties, but we are going through the same process. If that process is again compromised, I will speak out,” he said.
He also hit back at critics who accuse him of fleeing party crises rather than staying to fix them.
“They put fire in the house and were shocked that I was able to escape. They thought I would be there for the fire to burn me. When I escape, they now say Peter Obi cannot stay to put out the fire which they put,” he said.
Presidency Pounces
The response from Abuja was swift and biting. Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, reacting on X, wrote: “Peter Obi, the peripatetic, opportunistic and inconsistent politician ever to operate in Nigeria, hints that he may leave the ADC, the way he left APGA, PDP and Labour. Listen to him.”
The Presidency’s rebuke reinforced the administration’s broader narrative of stability and principled governance under President Bola Tinubu, contrasting it with what officials characterised as Obi’s record of political instability.
Stakes for 2027
The ADC was adopted as a coalition platform in 2025 to unite opposition forces ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Obi’s comments, made on the eve of the party’s national convention, introduce fresh uncertainty into a coalition already battling an INEC de-recognition order, a deepening leadership crisis, and venue denial allegations the party blames on the Tinubu administration.
Should Obi exit, political analysts say the ADC would lose its most electorally tested presidential aspirant — and the movement built around him, the Obidient network, which delivered millions of votes in 2023.
