By Law Mefor
I have been confronted here and there, in private chats and public fora, about why the presidential ambition of Mr. Peter Obi is not considered an Igbo project by those of us who are of Igbo extraction and who hold positions in APGA and the Anambra State Government. The question is often laced with emotion and a subtle blackmail: how can an Igbo man not support his own?
It is quite baffling that such a query should arise at all in a multiparty democracy, which Nigeria has always been. Democracy does not confer automatic ethnic allegiance. It confers freedom of choice, freedom of association, and freedom of political interest.
The simple answer is this: Mr. Peter Obi’s presidential ambition is not an Igbo project, because Mr. Peter Obi himself has never presented it as one, and does not want it to be seen as one.
For starters, Obi has been consistent and unequivocal. He has always said that whoever wants to help him in his presidential aspiration should never paint him as a presidential candidate of Igbo extraction. He wants to be seen only as a qualified, competent Nigerian who has offered himself to serve Nigeria. That is his chosen narrative – a national, not sectional, candidacy. We must respect his choice.
Secondly, and more tellingly, Mr. Obi has systematically avoided seeking any support from Igbo organisations that articulate, represent and project Igbo or South-East interests in Nigeria, such as Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the South-East Council of Traditional Rulers, and the South-East Governors Forum. In previous election cycles, Igbo presidential aspirants rushed to Ohanaeze for blessing and endorsement. Obi has not. He has deliberately kept a distance.
So, if Obi would rather not be endorsed by these Igbo-centric bodies, why then are people asking why many of us do not want to side with Obi or project him as representing the desire of some of us for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction? You cannot reject an endorsement and then demand loyalty on the basis of the same identity you rejected.
Politics is a Game of the Head, Not the Heart
People really need to understand how politics is played. Politics is played with the head, not with the heart. It is a game of interest and long-term strategy. Obi is playing his own game fairly well, focusing on a national youth demographic and a new political platform. What smacks of ignorance or mischief is the emotional politics of some of his supporters, insisting that Obi should receive no disapproval at home, and that any Igbo man who does not support him is a saboteur.
That is not politics; that is emotional blackmail.
For any Igbo presidential candidate to be considered an authentic Igbo project, there is a process. Igbo leaders, across political, traditional and socio-cultural lines, must meet, interrogate the candidacy, and endorse such a candidate as the collective interest of Ndi Igbo. That is how it was done in the past. That has not been done for Peter Obi in 2027.
And if such a meeting were to happen, there is no way Igbo leaders would ask Obi to agree to run for only one term of four years, while other zones have enjoyed and are demanding the maximum two terms of eight years guaranteed by the constitution. That single-term promise is a huge concession. It is Obi’s personal commitment to his new coalition partners, not a mandate from the South-East or from Ndi Igbo. No Igbo council would approve a deliberately shortened Igbo presidency. Therefore, his candidacy, on its own terms, cannot be called an Igbo project.
Mr. Peter Obi is running on his own terms, which he is fully entitled to, and has never sought either the views or endorsement of Igbo leaders at any level. Political groups in Igbo land therefore owe no automatic allegiance to Obi, as he has neither sought it nor wants to be perceived as representing Igbo interests.
Individuals and groups based in Ala Igbo are as free as air to pursue their political interests, just as Obi is pursuing his. Asking Ndi Igbo or groups in Igbo land, including political parties such as APGA, to bury or subsume their political interest under Obi’s presidential ambition is quite overreaching and a mischaracterisation of party politics.
Why APGA Must Protect Itself
This brings us to the heart of the matter: APGA’s survival.
Without any strategic alliance, APGA’s very existence may be jeopardised if Peter Obi’s NDC takes over Anambra State. In 2027, APGA will be competing for every position against APGA candidates – from House of Assembly to House of Representatives to Senate to the Presidency. When another political party takes over a state completely, the displaced political party dies a natural death.
We have a living example next door. Imo State was once governed by APGA through Rochas Okorocha. Today, APC has taken over the entire political space since Rochas dumped APGA to join the legacy party blocs that formed the All Progressives Congress. APGA is almost extinct in Imo. This is the fate those asking for unconditional support for Obi wish for APGA in Anambra State.
The record is clear. Since Peter Obi left APGA for PDP in 2014, he has tried consistently to take over Anambra through his new political parties. He backed PDP’s Oseloka Obaze against APGA in 2017. He backed Valentine Ozigbo of the Labour Party in 2021. He backed George Moghalu of the Labour Party in the 2025 governorship election. He even backed a candidate against APGA in the Onitsha North 1 State Assembly by-election in 2024, in which Hon Mimi Azikiwe of APGA still emerged victorious despite Obi’s rigorous campaign.
In each attempt, APGA rebuilt, re-strategized and won convincingly. The climax was the 2025 gubernatorial election where Obi lost all four wards in his own community, Agulu, while Governor Soludo and APGA won 320 out of 326 wards.
So, history shows that Obi has done everything humanly possible to topple APGA in Anambra State rather than go into an alliance with it – a party that made him governor twice, made him Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, and launched him to national prominence.
The Die is Cast Again
Another decisive electoral season has come, and Obi is once again pitted against APGA in Anambra, fighting to deliver himself as presidential candidate and to deliver all the candidates of his party, the NDC, for the legislature.
The die is once more cast. The history of how the NPN took over old Anambra State in 1983 – when Jim Nwobodo, despite his incumbency and the backing of Zik, was defeated by C.C. Onoh – is again in the making, exciting bookmakers.
Politics is interest. APGA has its own interest to protect: its survival, its identity as the Igbo party, and its future as a national political force. Its traditional policy has always been strategic alignment with the centre, a policy Obi himself practised when he worked with President Goodluck Jonathan while still APGA Governor and National Leader. Obi’s successor, Willie Obiano, did the same with President Buhari.
Governor Charles Soludo is only continuing that policy by working with President Bola Tinubu and accepting the role of coordinator for the presidential campaign in Anambra. It is a strategic move to ensure APGA is not erased.
To ask APGA to commit suicide in order to prove Igbo solidarity to a candidate who himself does not want to be tagged as an Igbo candidate is the height of emotional blackmail. It is asking APGA to abandon its own house to praise another man’s house.
Obi is free to pursue his ambition on his platform. Ndi Igbo, APGA, and all political groups in Ala Igbo are also free to pursue theirs, including through a strategic alliance with President Tinubu that guarantees their survival and relevance.
That is democracy. That is politics.
*Dr. Law Mefor is the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Anambra State.
