Labour Party National Vice-President, South-West, Abayomi Arabambi, has described former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the only serious contender capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Arabambi made the statement on Thursday during an interview on TVC’s *Politics Tonight*, where he discussed the political landscape ahead of the election.
He said Atiku was the only opposition figure he considered prepared to mount a serious challenge against Tinubu.
“We have a sitting president that is one, and we have only one contender against the president. The only contender we have that I know is serious to slug it out with the incumbent is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” Arabambi said.
The Labour Party chieftain, however, dismissed the prospect of Peter Obi contesting the 2027 presidential election.
Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the Labour Party platform, is now the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).
Arabambi described Obi as a “chief content creator”, suggesting that he was more focused on commenting on national issues than preparing for another presidential contest.
“When you look at Peter Obi, you know that one, for every reason known to Nigerians, is just the chief content creator,” he said.
He also criticised Obi’s use of statistics when discussing the economy and other national issues, alleging that some of the figures he presents have later proved inaccurate.
“He’s a man who comes with all manner of statistics that you now find out to be false,” Arabambi said.
Arabambi further claimed that Obi was not planning to contest the 2027 presidential election, saying some members of the opposition movement were aware of his position.
“He’s not contesting, even their leader knows Obi is not contesting. All of you are going to replay what I said today. He’s not contesting. He knew why he went out there,” he said.
Presidency should remain in South, says Arabambi
On the issue of zoning, Arabambi argued that the presidency should remain in the South in 2027, saying the region should be allowed to complete an eight-year tenure before power moves to another part of the country.
“But for now, the presidency has been zoned to the South,” he said.
He recalled that Atiku contested the 2023 presidential election after former President Muhammadu Buhari completed his eight-year tenure but lost to Tinubu.
“In 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar came out to say he wanted to run after the eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians, in their own opinion, said, ‘Let’s give it to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As far as I’m concerned, the South need to complete our eight years,’” Arabambi said.
