A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri said the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kankwaso and the former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State will not agree to contest the presidency with Peter Obi in 2027.
Omokri stated this in a statement via his X handle on Wednesday.
Recall that Obi met with Atiku, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa from 2007 to 2015, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The meeting was the first between the two politicians since the end of the general elections last year.
The details of the meeting were not immediately known.
But, Omokri said no northerner of standing and in his right senses would agree to run for the 2027 presidency with the former Anambra State governor.
Omokri wondered about the significance of Obi’s rapprochement with Northern powerbrokers in the PDP, stressing that “right now he is tainted.”
He said, “Have you forgotten about Deborah Samuel? Of course not. The memory is still fresh in your mind, primarily because you are a Christian and you empathise with her, seeing as she was killed by a core Northern Muslim mob on charges of blasphemy.
“Now, perform this emotional intelligence exercise. If you cannot and will not forget Deborah Samuel, how do you think any Muslim, Northern or Southern, is going to forget a man who was caught on tape plotting religious war against you? How?
“The North Remembers is not just an episode from the television series, Game of Thrones. It is an actual way of life of Northern Nigeria. They have the memory of an elephant.
“They read al-Quran, which warns them about such people, who are referred to as Munafiq. You know how sensitive religion is in Nigeria. And then you think the Muslim Ummah will forgive and forget Peter Obi’s words? Peter Obi will be 63 in six weeks. People don’t change when they are that old.
“Especially when Peter Obi has never owned up to the tape and apologised. Instead, when asked three times by Charles Aniagolu if that was him on the tape, Obi dodged the question.
Read Also: Ondo guber: APC ward exco suspends Jimoh lbrahim
“And then you combine his Yes Daddy tape with his jumping from one church to the other, shouting, ‘Church, take back your country,’ and you think Muslims are that naive as to forgive such a man?
“As for South-South votes, Obi will not get them in 2027 or be able to influence their direction. As long as Tinubu delivers the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, or at least comes very close to completion.
“Yes, people will agree to meet with him out of courtesy. Some will do so to explore if they can get him to give them his bloc vote. But no Northerner standing in his right mind will run with Obi. Not Waziri Atiku, Rabiu Kwankwaso, or Nasir-El-Rufai.
“For Arewa, you can touch the North and be forgiven. But you cannot touch Islam and be forgiven.”
