In what appears a move to prepare opposition political parties for the 2027 elections, the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, Thursday, met behind closed doors with the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Bala Mohammed.
   
Sources within the Bauchi State Government House told The Guardian that the former Anambra State governor visited Bauchi to ensure that the PDP governors were on the same page with the calls on him and his running mate on the LP platform, Senator Datti Baba Ahmed, to re-join the PDP.
   
The source affirmed that prominent PDP leaders, including the Fourth Republic Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had been mounting pressures on the former LP presidential candidate to return to PDP to join forces with like minds and rescue the country from economic dilapidation and social unease.
  
“I think the former Vice President had visited his former Principal, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to plead with him to convince Mr Peter Obi to return to PDP so that together they can pick the pieces of what remains of the country and build a new Nigeria.
   
“You are aware that the issue of zoning contributed to the failure of PDP to win the 2023 presidential election. So, I believe that the party leaders have learnt their lessons and are prepared to make serious amends. They are talking and all sides seem to agree that there is a need to make sacrifices,” the source disclosed.
  
However, emerging from the closed-door meeting, Bauchi State governor, Mohammed, declared that he was ready to work with Obi “to form a vibrant opposition and deliver the country from mediocres parading as leaders.”
  
The PDPGF Chairman, who is also associated with 2027 presidential ambition, stated: “Obi is the leader of opposition in Nigeria, because of his position and pedigree. So, I want to say this and make it clear to some of those doubting Thomases, who want to pre-empt what we are doing.  
   
“As a person, I am ready to work with Mr Peter Obi and to make sure we close ranks and bring good governance to the country. To give vibrant opposition with knowledge and timelines, and vision in such a manner that would rescue and recover our country from these mediocre that are parading themselves as leaders, time has come. But we must step out and do things with fidelity, with sincerity and focus.
  
“I think our coming together is a message. And the message is going to resonate, I believe, because all our colleagues, the governors, are behind this kind of journey. Because it is a transcendental one, and I want to say that we are very grateful to Peter Obi for coming here. And we will take it up and take it further in a manner that going forward, you will see more of this outing between us and Governor Obi, PDP governors, and PDP as a party.”
  
On his part, the former LP presidential standard bearer disclosed that he visited Mohammed basically to discuss events in the country, adding that being the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, he decided “to consult him, as a critical person in Nigerian politics today.”
   
“With what our country is going through, I felt it is necessary for me to come and discuss the future of our dear country with him.  
  
“So, instead of a consultation, it’s a meeting that will continue to go on as we talk about the future of this country. All of you are aware of where we are today, what is happening in our country and everything.  
 
 “And yet we must discuss that. You must discuss the issues that are happening in the North. Like I told the governor today, the North is a critical component to address, if we are going to get it right in this country.
  
“There is so much criminality in Nigeria, especially when people talk about it. And I say, no, there’s poverty in Nigeria. You must deal with the issue of poverty. Until you solve poverty, you can’t talk about criminality. Because if people don’t know where the next meal will come from, nobody can know what they can do.  
  
“We can see poverty in the North, but there’s also a future that is everywhere. We can make more money today. Nigeria can be rich today from agriculture which will make for more yields.      
   
“And I could see vast areas of uncultivated land that have been turning the government off everywhere I go. I’ve been visiting everywhere in the world. I just came back from a visit to Indonesia, the highest Muslim country in the world,” he said.
  
Obi, who is also the leader of the Obidient Movement, a political action group, explained that the country needs critical investment in areas that would easily pull the people out of poverty, stressing that was the first step to reducing criminality.
   
While urging for investment in children to avoid their recourse to drugs and other vices, Obi declared: “We need education. We need to care about their health. But, as you can see now, we are not discussing all these in the political space. What we are discussing in the political space are mundane things. Whether it is budget spending or sexual harassment, and people are hungry.
  
“We need to discuss hunger. We need to discuss poverty. We need to discuss education. We need to discuss health. What we are discussing should be the dignity of the political class. We are not in Hollywood.”
   
The Guardian reports that many notable PDP leaders, including Mohammed, have been calling on Atiku Abubakar to withdraw his presidential aspiration as a condition for making the coalition work.  
    
Buba Galadima, a close ally of the 2023 Presidential candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, said in all the talk about 2027, “why can’t Atiku for once think of giving way and support other people?”
  
Galadima, who supported the PDP presidential candidate in 2019, but switched to Kwankwaso in 2023 remarked: “Our major problem is age. That is the truth, and nobody wants to say the truth.  
  
“If I were Atiku’s adviser, I would advise him to quietly step aside and assist the country to move forward, because it doesn’t look like now 85 per cent of those that supported him before will support him again.”