Former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan offered Labour Party’s 2023 presidential flagbearer, Peter Obi, the position of Coordinating Minister of the Economy if he would abandon his 2027 presidential ambition and support Jonathan’s return bid.
Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Kachikwu claimed that opposition politicians, including Obi, had adopted the ADC as a platform for an opposition coalition ahead of the next general elections.
He alleged that Jonathan’s entry into the race was orchestrated by Northern political interests as part of a broader strategy to weaken southern influence.
“In order to weaken the South, they have now drafted in former President Jonathan into the race, who is alleged to be offering Peter Obi the position of Coordinating Minister of the Economy for him to support his ambition,” Kachikwu stated.
He further alleged that Obi had been bluntly told he could not win in the North due to ethnic sentiments.
“A Peter Obi has been told in very clear terms that he will never get northern votes as an Igbo man, and as such, he should accept to be Atiku’s running mate,” he said.
Kachikwu accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and certain Northern elites of maintaining political dominance for decades without addressing the deep-rooted issues of illiteracy and poverty in the region.
“They use the weapons of region, religion, tongue, tribe, and poverty as they convince millions of poor Northerners that a southern President Tinubu hates them and is the cause of their poverty,” he charged.
He also condemned what he described as the calculated spread of misinformation against President Bola Tinubu and other southern presidential hopefuls, calling for sincerity of purpose from all political actors.
“We must all come to equity with clean hands and sincerity of purpose,” Kachikwu urged. “We don’t burn our houses because we want to kill rats and cockroaches; sometimes we just need to make our houses clean so that rats and cockroaches leave on their own.”
Expressing hope for the nation’s future, he added, “My earnest prayer is that Nigeria will soon work for every one of us