The Labour Party’s National Vice President (South-West), Abayomi Arabambi, has questioned the political strategy of the Nigeria Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Arabambi, who described Obi as a “chief content creator” alleged that the former governor of Anambra state frequently relies on statistics that later turn out to be inaccurate.
He made the remarks on Thursday during an appearance on TVC’s Politics Tonight, while assessing the emerging political alignments and presidential ambitions ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to Arabambi, Obi had built much of his recent political visibility around commenting on Nigeria’s economic and social conditions rather than actively positioning himself for the presidency.
“He’s a man who comes with all manner of statistics that you now find out to be false,” Arabambi said.
“When you look at Peter Obi, you know that one, for every reason known to Nigerians, is just the chief content creator.”
The Labour Party chieftain claimed that Obi is not contesting the 2027 presidential election, alleging that the former governor’s current political activities were driven by reasons other than a presidential ambition.
“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 stated.
Arabambi also dismissed the possibility of another opposition figure emerging as a more formidable challenger to President Bola Tinubu, identifying the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as the only opposition politician he considered capable of mounting a serious presidential contest.
“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,” he said.
The LP chieftain also defended the argument that the presidency should remain in the southern part of Nigeria in 2027, insisting that the region should be allowed to complete what he described as its eight-year tenure.
Arabambi said the zoning argument was strengthened by the outcome of the 2023 election, when Atiku contested against Tinubu after former President Muhammadu Buhari completed two terms in office.
He argued that since Nigerians subsequently elected Tinubu, the South should be allowed to retain the presidency for another four years before power returns to another region.
“But for now, the presidency has been zoned to the South,” Arabambi said.,
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Kenneth Okonkwo, has separately criticised Obi’s decision to leave the opposition coalition and align with the NDC.
Okonkwo alleged that Obi was “lured” away from the coalition and had subsequently found himself politically constrained within the NDC.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, the former Labour Party chieftain also described Atiku as the leader of Nigeria’s opposition ahead of the 2027 presidential contest.
Okonkwo said opposition politicians had agreed on the ADC as the platform for their coalition on July 2, 2026, with Obi among those involved in the process.
He, however, claimed that Obi later abandoned the arrangement for the NDC, which Okonkwo argued was not legally recognised as a registered political party.
“NDC came into opposition on December 10 through a court order. Legally speaking, it’s a political association and not a party, according to the judgment of the court, and they are now appealing,” Okonkwo said.
