Activist, finance expert and political commentator Omotayo Williams on Saturday has asked former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race and support Peter Obi, saying multiple opposition candidates could divide votes needed to defeat the Tinubu administration.
Williams made the appeal on X in a press release titled “ATIKU MUST PUT NIGERIA FIRST – STEP DOWN AND SUPPORT PETER OBI”. He said Atiku should place what he called Nigeria’s national interest ahead of his personal presidential ambition.
The appeal centres on the prospect of a divided opposition at the 2027 election. Williams said opposition politicians could weaken their chances of defeating the Tinubu administration by entering the election as separate candidates.
He said Atiku should reconsider another attempt at the presidency and use his political experience to help create a united opposition around a single candidate.
Williams points to vote division
Williams said Nigeria could not afford another election in which opposition candidates put individual political ambitions ahead of the country.
His position is that several opposition candidates would divide votes among themselves, leaving the opposition with a weaker chance of defeating the Tinubu administration through the ballot box.
He therefore wants Atiku to withdraw his presidential ambition and place his influence behind Obi.
“Peter Obi should be given the opportunity to lead that effort,” Williams said.
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He said Obi had an appeal that extended beyond traditional political structures and had mobilised a significant number of Nigerians demanding political change.
Williams did not present Atiku’s withdrawal as an end to his political relevance. Instead, he said the former vice-president’s experience could be used to bring opposition politicians behind one presidential candidate.
“Atiku’s experience should now be used to unite, not divide,” Williams said.
He said Atiku could make a historic contribution by backing one opposition candidate instead of pursuing another presidential ticket.
The appeal comes with a clear electoral objective: Williams wants the opposition to present a single candidate against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
He said the priority should be to remove the Tinubu government through the ballot box and warned against another election in which opposition politicians pursue separate presidential ambitions.
Appeal framed as national interest
Williams presented his request as an issue that goes beyond the political futures of Atiku and Obi.
“This is bigger than Atiku. It is bigger than Obi. It is about Nigeria,” he said.
He maintained that no individual’s ambition should take precedence over the future of the country.
His position places the question of opposition unity ahead of individual presidential aspirations. In the release, he repeatedly tied his appeal to the need for a single opposition candidate capable of challenging the Tinubu administration in the 2027 election.
Williams said Atiku had made several attempts to secure the presidency and suggested that withdrawing from another contest could give him an opportunity to help create a united opposition.
“After several attempts at the presidency, the greater act of statesmanship now is to step aside and help build a united opposition capable of winning,” he said.
Williams based his preference on Obi’s appeal outside traditional political structures and the number of Nigerians he said Obi had mobilised around demands for political change.
Williams described the proposed united opposition as having three elements: one candidate, one alternative to the Tinubu administration and one electoral objective.
“I therefore make this appeal clearly and without equivocation:
Atiku Abubakar should step down from the 2027 presidential race and support Peter Obi.”
He said the purpose of such an arrangement would be to present a united opposition at the election and give voters seeking political change a single candidate around whom those votes could gather.
Williams also stressed that the objective should be achieved through democratic means. His release specifically called for the Tinubu government to be defeated “through the ballot box” and later referred to “the democratic process”.
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