Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is reportedly spearheading a strategic committee to reconcile Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as part of a broader opposition alliance ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a significant move to reshape Nigeria’s political landscape, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly initiated a high-level committee to unify key opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections. According to Sumner Sambo, Editor for Politics at Arise News, the committee began talks in December involving Peter Obi, who is now associated with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. This renewed diplomatic push follows a recent Sallah visit by Obi to Kwankwaso’s residence in Kano, an engagement described by Obidient Movement Coordinator Dr. Yunusa Tanko as focused on “strategising for our collective interest to make Nigeria work again for all of us.”
The engagement serves as a “quiet restart” of the failed alliance talks that preceded the 2023 elections, where disagreements over power-sharing and ticket supremacy ultimately led both men to run separate campaigns. Political analysts argue that their inability to form a “Third Force” fractured the opposition vote, facilitating the victory of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC). Sambo noted that current consultations in Kano suggest Kwankwaso is under increasing pressure from stakeholders to reconsider a coalition, though any successful front would likely need to incorporate other major players like Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi to be truly formidable.
Describing the former President’s motivation, Sambo highlighted the legacy-driven nature of the intervention during a broadcast on Arise Television’s Morning Show. Sambo said: “This is Olusegun Obasanjo’s desire. Actually, I’ve been speaking with lots of people, and they told me that this is what looks like the last gift that Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria, thinks he can give to Nigeria’s democratic process, by seeing how he can bring some younger elements within the angle of Nigerian politics. Sometime around December, there was a committee that was set up by Olusegun Obasanjo, who had brought some elements between then Labor Party leader Peter Obi who’s in the ADC, and then Rabbi Musa Kwankwaso.”
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