The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has expressed scepticism about Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party’s ability to win support in northern Nigeria. Keyamo, a prominent member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet, claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has a well-established political structure in the region that the opposition cannot match.
He said this on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics” as political discussions intensify ahead of the 2027 presidential election, he downplayed the potential of a newly formed opposition coalition on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The Minister argued that while the coalition may keep the ruling party “on our toes,” their numbers are not strong enough to pose a significant threat. Keyamo addressed the possibility of a joint ticket between Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, suggesting such an alliance would fail.
He argued that the demographic factors that he believes contributed to Obi’s performance in the 2023 election would “collapse” in such a scenario. According to him, three key factors boosted Obi’s vote share in 2023. He said one of them is religious alignment because he was the only major Christian candidate, which attracted the support of Christian voters.
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Keyamo also mentioned regional loyalty, claiming that the South-East region rallied behind Obi, an Igbo man, because they felt marginalised. More so, he pointed out youth support, which he identified as a demographic of young, “angry” Nigerians who were attracted to Obi as a younger candidate. Keyamo contended that if Obi were to run as president again, he “cannot penetrate the north” because the APC has a strong presence with governors and other political structures there.
Keyamo’s comments follow recent developments in the opposition camp.
On July 2, 2025, a coalition of opposition figures, including Atiku, Obi, and former governors and ministers, adopted the ADC as their platform to challenge the Tinubu administration in 2027. This coalition is reportedly banking on the combined vote totals of Atiku and Obi from the 2023 election, which exceeded Tinubu’s winning total by more than four million votes.
