2027: Drop your ambition, back Tinubu, RMRDC boss tells Obi

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA: Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has urged the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress NDC, Mr Peter Obi, to shelve his ambition for the 2027 election and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. Ike-Muonso, who spoke during an interactive session with reporters in Abuja, argued that the South should be allowed to complete its eight-year tenure before power returns to the North.

He said the principle of power rotation between the North and South, which has shaped Nigeria’s political calculations since the return to democracy in 1999, should guide political actors as they prepare for the 2027 general elections. “Presidential ambition must be balanced with the larger interests of national unity, political stability and the need to sustain policies that can transform the economy.

Nigeria has developed a political tradition of power rotation between the North and South, and respecting that understanding can help strengthen confidence among the country’s diverse political constituencies”, he said. While he conceded that the Constitution does not prescribe a North-South rotation of the presidency, he said the arrangement has, however, remained an important consideration among major parties and stakeholders seeking to manage regional interests and maintain national balance.

Ike-Muonso said Obi should consider postponing his aspiration until after Tinubu’s second term, and after the North would have the opportunity to produce a President. He said this would serve political stability, national cohesion and continuity in governance. He also urged Obi to consider joining the All Progressives Congress APC. According to him, engagement within the ruling party would let the former Anambra State governor contribute to policy debates, understand its governance structures and take part in development programmes being implemented by APC-controlled states.

Ike-Muonso said membership would also give Obi a chance to observe how the party’s state governments approach infrastructure, education, healthcare, investment and economic development. He acknowledged Obi’s following, saying: “Peter Obi has built a political following and brought issues of public expenditure, accountability and economic management into the national conversation.

Those issues deserve sustained engagement. But political leadership also requires strategic decisions about when to contest, when to collaborate and how best to contribute to national development.” The RMRDC chief said Obi’s influence and support base could be deployed to promote constructive engagement on governance, economic development and institutional reforms, rather than concentrating exclusively on the immediate contest for the presidency.

He urged Obi to use the intervening years to deepen his engagement with progressive political ideas, build alliances across the country and contribute to policies capable of improving citizens’ welfare. Ike-Muonso said the decision to join a political party ultimately rested with Obi. He maintained, however, that Nigeria needed a political culture in which prominent figures could work across previous political differences in pursuit of agreed national objectives.

He added that the debate ahead of 2027 should go beyond individual ambitions to include an assessment of the policies and programmes needed to diversify the economy, create jobs and strengthen domestic production. The RMRDC boss said the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda had created a policy framework within which institutions such as the Council could advance local raw-material development, industrialisation, import substitution and value addition.

He said the Council was pursuing initiatives aimed at moving Nigeria away from the export of unprocessed commodities towards a production-based economy capable of creating jobs, attracting investment and strengthening domestic manufacturing. “The opportunity before Nigeria is to move beyond exporting raw commodities and build an economy in which our natural resources support local factories, generate employment and create wealth within our communities,” he said.