Peter Obi 2027 Chances: Fayose Says ADC Exit Weakened Presidential Bid
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said Peter Obi’s decision to leave the African Democratic Congress (ADC) weakened the former Anambra State governor’s chances ahead of the 2027 presidential election, arguing that opposition disunity has effectively cost him his shot at the presidency.
Fayose made the assertion during an interview on TVC News’ Politics Tonight on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, while assessing the prospects of opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. According to him, Obi and other opposition politicians would have been better positioned to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) if they had remained united under the ADC. “When they were all together in ADC, I would tell anybody that they will make an impact. The day Obi left ADC for NDC, that day Obi lost,” Fayose said.
Expanding on his assessment in a separate portion of the interview, Fayose argued that Obi’s personal qualities would not be enough to overcome the consequences of opposition disunity, saying, “But when opposition, when they don’t come together, they will continue to lose.” He also suggested it was now too late for opposition politicians to reverse course and reunite ahead of the election, stating, “It’s too late now. INEC has accredited everybody. Even if you say you are not doing again, you’re on your own,” adding, “You have put your feet in the water. You can’t get out. You have gotten wet already.”
Drawing a comparison to previous political realignments, Fayose noted that Obi’s decision to leave the ADC, while Atiku Abubakar remained with the party, weakened their combined chances of unseating the APC. He pointed to the historical precedent of the APC’s own formation, recalling that the party emerged from an alliance between former President Muhammadu Buhari’s substantial voter base and President Bola Tinubu’s political influence and following, suggesting a similarly unified front is what the current opposition lacks. “If the current opposition can’t achieve that, this election has come and gone again,” he said.
Despite his critical assessment of Obi’s political strategy, the former governor was careful to praise Obi personally, describing him as “a fantastic Nigerian who has made his marks, who has shown that things can get better.”
Turning to President Tinubu’s own prospects in 2027, Fayose said the political situation in the South-West currently favoured the President, projecting that Tinubu could secure about four million votes in the region based on voting patterns recorded during the 2023 presidential election. “In the West alone, Tinubu will get close to about four million votes,” Fayose said. “When you look at the pattern of the last election, Tinubu will win this election close to about 65 per cent,” he added.
Fayose also weighed in on allegations of vote-buying during the recently concluded Osun State governorship election, rejecting claims that electoral malpractice was perpetrated by only one political camp. He said supporters of the APC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Accord Party were all implicated in alleged vote-buying incidents during the election, describing the practice as a systemic problem rather than the fault of a single party. “It’s mere desperation. Mere desperation,” he said, adding that television footage from election day showed police arresting members of multiple camps for sharing money, undercutting any claim that one side alone was responsible.
Fayose’s remarks add to a series of comments he has made in recent months on the state of Nigeria’s opposition, having previously warned in January that the ADC could struggle significantly if it failed to field Obi as its presidential candidate, before Obi’s eventual move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) reshaped the opposition landscape ahead of 2027.
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