FWD: PETER OBI: A POLITICAL FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND By S. KADIRI
Cornelius Hamelberg
PETER OBI: A POLITICAL FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND By S. KADIRI
In the online Nigerian Cable of Sunday, May 3, 2026, I read Peter Obi's letter to Nigerians explaining his political vagabondage from the ADC which he joined as recently as 31st of December 2026, after divorcing the Labour party on which platform he contested the 2023 Presidential election.
Obi wrote, "Fellow Nigerians, good morning. I woke up this morning after my church service with a deeply reflective heart, and despite every constraint I felt compelled to share these thoughts with you." In trying to understand the afore cited Obi's written statement I believed that Obi first attended Church Service, then went back to sleep from which he woke up with a deeply reflective heart. It became clear to me after reading the whole letter that Obi is a master in roasting the truth for self-conceited fragrance. He smuggled and mixed up church service into his reflection to induce public sympathy. Obi continued his letter, "Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me. I will continue to respect them." The reason for his vagabondage from the ADC, he wrote, "The same Nigerian State and its agents THAT CREATED UNNECESSARY CRISES AND HOSTILITY WITHIN THE LABOUR PARTY THAT FORCED ME TO LEAVE NOW APPEAR TO BE FINDING THEIR WAY INTO THE ADC, WITH ENDLESS COURT CASES, INTERNAL BATTLES, SUSPICION, AND DIVISION, INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON DEEPER NATIONAL PROBLEMS AND PLAYING POLITICS BUILT ON CONTROL AND EXCLUSION THAN ON SERVICE AND NATION BUILDING." Peter Obi needs to be confronted with certain historical facts in order to prove his reasons for exiting ADC wrong. Obi was Governor of Anambra State for eight years which expired in March 2014. When his successor, Willie Obiano, began to ask uncomfortable questions about the finance of the State, Peter Obi divorced himself from the APGA party on which platform he ruled Anambra State for eight years and joined the ruling party, PDP under President Goodluck Jonathan, who rewarded him with an appointment as Secretary of Security Exchanges. In the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, were PDP running mates. Atiku Abubakar was a PDP Vice President between 1999-2007, in the Olusegun Obasanjo's Presidency. He contested the 2007 presidential election on the platform of ACN then led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu but lost to Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. Atiku returned to the PDP in 2010 after calculating coldly that even if Yar'Adua were to survive the 4 years tenure, he would not be able to contest in the 2011 Presidential election. As it were, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua died in May 2010 and Jonathan became the substantive President. Atiku Abubakar campaigned vigorously against Jonathan contesting the 2011 presidential election on the ground that it was the turn of the North to produce the President according to the constitution of the PDP on rotational presidency between the north and the south. Atiku contested the PDP presidential primary election against Jonathan in 2011 and lost. Jonathan proceeded to win the election and when it was clear that Jonathan was going to contest the 2015 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar left PDP to join the newly formed APC and he contested the presidential primary election against Muhammadu Buhari without success. Following the victory of Buhari in the 2015 presidential election, the PDP was in disarray and once again Atiku Abubakar re-joined PDP to become its Presidential flag bearer in the 2019 Presidential election while Peter Obi was his running mate. They were both defeated by the joint tickets of Buhari and Oshinbajo. As the PDP presidential primary election of 2023 was approaching, Atiku Abubakar insisted on contesting against the will of the members of the PDP from the South who invoked the provision of the Constitution of the PDP on eight years rotational Presidency between the North and South. They argued that it would violate PDP's constitution for another Northerner to be President after eight years tenure of Buhari, a Northerner, as President. Although Peter Obi was among the 15 PDP members screened to contest its presidential primary election in 2022, Peter Obi, quickly withdrew his participation three days before the primary election and joined the Labour party to become its presidential flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election.
Regarding political whore, it is very clear from the above narratives that Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi are birds of the same feather. That was why Peter Obi could categorically state in his letter to Nigerians, "Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because... my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me." The Nigerian State and its agents were not involved when Peter Obi wandered from APGA to the PDP 2014; and from PDP to LP, 2022. In what ways were the Nigerian State and its agents responsible for internal squabbles within the Labour party and now ADC? Peter Obi joined the Labour party on Friday and emerged as its presidential flag bearer after 72 hours of becoming a member. His name was not even in the register of members forwarded to the INEC 30 days before the Labour party primary. Protesting members of the LP alleged that the letters of withdrawal from contestants in the LP presidential primary were forged and presented to the INEC in order to pave the way for Peter Obi to emerge as its presidential flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election. That led to members' discontent and strife within the Labour party. The Nigerian State and its agents were not involved.
As for the ADC political party, it was captured by the trio of a Military General Emeritus, David Mark; Vice President Emeritus, Atiku Abubakar; and State Governor Emeritus, Rauf Aregbesola. Historically, ADC was formed in 2005 with the name Alliance for Democratic Change (ADC), but while being registered with the INEC in 2006, it changed its name to African Democratic Congress (ADC). The ADC presidential candidate, in 2007, was Patrick Utomi; in 2011, Reverend Peter Uchenna Nwangwu; in 2015, Dr Mani Ibrahim Ahmad; in 2019, Obadiah Mailafia; and in 2023, Dumebi Kachikwu. Then in July 2025, the National Chairman of the ADC, Ralph Okey Nwosu, called a hocus-pocus meeting where he announced the resignation of the National Working Committee of ADC and handed over to the interim Chairman and Secretary in the persons of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, respectively. However, Peter Obi remained in the Labour party. By September 2, 2025, the Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, filed a suit at an Abuja Federal High Court saying that he had never resigned as the Deputy National Chairman of the ADC and according to the constitution of the party, if the Chairman resigned, he should act as the National Chairman until a new election is held. He emphasized that as at the time of take over of the ADC by David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, both were not even registered members of the Party in their wards to accord with the Constitution of the ADC. David Mark's NWC quickly forwarded their names to the INEC causing their names to be uploaded by INEC on September 9, 2025. At the High Court, David Mark and companies argued that the suit should be quashed because the Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate on internal affairs of a political party. The Court ruled that it had the right to hear a case of violation of the constitution of any political party. David Mark appealed against the decision of the High Court to the Appeal Court. All of that happened in 2025 while Peter Obi still remained in the Labour Party and when he felt that the capture of ADC by the Mark's gang would succeed, he resigned from LP in December 2025 and wandered into the ADC party.
On March 12, 2026, the Appeal Court ruled that the High Court had jurisdiction to hear the case over the violation of the constitution of the ADC when it was captured by David Mark's gang. Beside referring the case to the High Court for continued hearing, the Appeal Court also ordered all parties involved in the case to maintain what was called Status Quo Ante Bellum (SQAB). Since Nafiu Bala Gombe filed his Suit on September 2, 2025, against David Mark and his gang against the take over of ADC and was recognised by the INEC on September 9, 2025, which was 7 days after Nafiu Bala Gombe had filed his Suit, INEC decided not to recognise either Gombe's or Mark's faction of the ADC. David Mark's faction cried foul of the decision of the INEC and appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to overturn not only the Status Quo Ante Bellum decision but also that the Court lacked jurisdiction over the internal affairs of the party.
What is Status Quo Ante Bellum? Legal pundits define it as the position before the wrongful act, or conduct that gave rise to the dispute, was committed. That is different from Status Quo Ante Litem which is the position of things after the conduct complained of took place. The Court could also declare simply, Status Quo meaning maintenance of position of things as they were at the Court hearing.
Having appealed the decision of the Appeal Court to the Supreme Court, David Mark's faction of the ADC went back to the High Court to request it for continued hearing of which of the ADC factions was legitimate. The High Court decided to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court on the appeal since the decision of the Apex Court might render the continuation of the lower Court unnecessary. However, the Supreme Court gave accelerated hearing to David Mark's appeal and reserved judgment.
On April 25, 2026, the Ibadan opposition summit hosted by Governor Seyi Makinde's version of the PDP gathered at Ibadan to decide on fielding a single and common candidate for the purpose of dislodging Tinubu from the Presidency in the coming election. In attendance were Atiku, Amechi, Obi, Kwankwaso, Mark, Aregbesola, Makinde and others. The group could not agree on whether to zone the presidential candidate to the North or South. Bearing in mind that it was the refusal of Atiku Abubakar to agree to zoning the Presidency to the South in 2022 which made Peter Obi to wander away from PDP to LP, the inability of the group to decide on zoning caused Obi to suspect that Atiku Abubakar would once more upstage him as ADC presidential candidate in the coming 2027 election. On Monday, 27 of April 2026, the Supreme Court announced that it would deliver judgment on Mark's appeal on Thursday, 30 April 2026. Yet, in another case, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 restrained the INEC from recognising ADC congresses, as reported by the online Nigerian Punch. Speaking on the restraint, the ADC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Dumebi Kachikwu said, "Mark led ADC trying to hijack our Party has failed woefully." On April 30, 2026 the Supreme Court decided to return the ADC suit to the trial Court for continuation even though it rescinded the Status Quo Ante Bellum which it said was unnecessary.
Any registered political party wishing to participate in the 2027 election should, according to the electoral Acts, submit a register of its members and its executive latest 10 May 2026. With the Court cases over which faction of the ADC is legitimate, the ADC is not likely to submit a register of its members to INEC by May 10, 2026. This, combined with Atiku Abubakar's declared intention to contest for the ADC presidential primary election caused Obi to search, as usual, for another second-hand political party on which platform he can contest the coming 2027 presidential election in Nigeria.
Nigerians have been forced to witness a political theatre of personal ambitions with shifting loyalties and ideological emptiness. Politics to Peter Onwubuasi Gregory Obi and his acolytes is not about social justice, economic equity and democratic accountability. Obi aspires to be the Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria but he has never, throughout his political career, been able to be a Commander-In-Chief of a political party, an obligatory requisite to be fulfilled in order to become the Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria. Instead of creating a political party, he always searched for a dormant second-hand political party for capture through bribing some of the executive members of the captured party. Consequently, party executive members who are excluded from sharing in the money for captive bribe initiate legal suit asking the court to determine who is their legal Chairman. That has nothing to do with the Nigerian State or its agents. Everything about the politician, Peter Onwubuasi Gregory Obi, is fake. Consider that he will, for an instance, be 65-year-old on July 19, 2026, yet, he is touting himself as the voice of the Nigerian Youths. Typically, Nigerian Politics allow a deaf and dumb to declare self as the voice of the people. The political behaviours of Peter Onwubuasi Gregory Obi as observed above remind me of the American playwright, Tennessee Williams, who wrote once that, "The only thing worse than a liar is a liar who is also a hypocrite."
Dr. Oohay
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Victor Okafor
In politics the world over, there are no permanent friends, but permanent interests. Furthermore, political parties in Nigeria function merely as platforms for pursuit of electoral positions at the federal, state, and local government levels. There are no hardline or heartfelt ideological factors that distinguish one Nigerian political party from another. These political parties exist as vehicles for contesting for available political offices. The factors that fundamentally differentiate one Nigerian political party from another include their cast of personalities, the social standing and wealth of their members, their societal clout, and their foreign partnerships. The big players strive for foreign partnerships and foreign approval.
At the various strata of governance--the federal, state, and local governments, the political personalities make similar and overlapping socioeconomic promises to the electorate. Thus, transiting from one political party to another appears to be the rule rather than the exception in the Nigerian political space. Needless to say, cross-carpeting is not a peculiarity of the Nigerian political environment. We see it happening in other political arenas around the world of democratic experimentations, except for where the law forbids it. In the case of Nigeria, it is actually difficult to locate a sizable number of leading politicians who have not shifted from one political party to the other in their political strivings. In the United States, did the current President start out his political career as a Republican? Was Donald Trump not a registered Democratic party member for eight years, from August 2001 to September 2009? Has it also not been reported that in his political journeys, Trump has switched party affiliations five times, including periods as a Republican, an Independent, and a member of an Independence Party? US legislators have also been known to switch parties even while still in service. Voters also routinely switch parties in democratic spaces. Political pundits also tend to change in their implicitly or explicitly expressed political preferences. It all depends on a variety of explanatory variables, including noble or pragmatic ideological, policy and self-seeking motivations.
Factors that influence party affiliation also change over time, prompting both voters and elective political office seekers to transit from one political party to another. There is nothing immoral or abnormal about it in democratic spaces. It all depends upon the political actors’ calculations about which political platform looks like the most viable vehicle for driving to the political office of choice. For voters, it may also depend upon one’s calculations about which political party or candidate, during a given political campaign season, holds the strongest promise for bringing about a desired public policy change.
Therefore, it is not right to disparage the politicians, nor to cast aspersion on their shifting political bases. Like other political theatres of the world, the Nigerian political class consists of a variegated community made up of both well-meaning and self-interested personalities. Yes, some of them are avowedly well-meaning and enthusiastic about their dreams for a New Nigeria. To the latter class, I say: go for it and best wishes! So, there you have it! —Dr. O.
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