The All Progressives Congress has mocked Peter Obi over his defection from the African Democratic Congress to the National Democratic Congress, calling him a political wanderer chasing the 2027 presidential ticket.
Obi announced his move to the NDC this week, following Rabiu Kwankwaso's similar switch from the NNPP. The APC's response was swift and cutting. Party spokespeople seized on Obi's fourth major party switch in recent years, suggesting his loyalty lies only with winning elections, not principles.
The timing matters. With 2027 looming, major opposition figures are repositioning themselves. Kwankwaso left the NNPP after his falling out with Bola Tinubu, who founded that party before moving to the APC. Now both he and Obi are banking on the NDC, the main opposition party, as their vehicle to challenge Tinubu's second term bid.
For the APC, this is easy ammunition. Obi has been Labour Party's presidential candidate in 2023, its vice presidential candidate before that, then ADC. Now NDC. The party described him as a "rolling stone" in political parlance, the kind of figure who rolls from place to place gathering no moss and no credibility.
Obi's supporters counter that strategic alliances are normal in opposition politics, especially when one candidate must emerge as the opposition's flagbearer. They argue that consolidating anti-APC forces matters more than staying with a party that cannot win.
But the APC's mockery reflects a broader reality. Both Obi and Kwankwaso are betting that the NDC offers their best shot at 2027. Neither can win a presidential election alone. The NDC, meanwhile, gains two heavyweight candidates but inherits their baggage and their mutual suspicion. Whether they run together or compete in the primary will shape opposition politics over the next two years.
The NDC has not yet clarified how it will manage both ambitions. Party leadership will decide whether Obi and Kwankwaso compete in an open primary or whether one becomes the consensus choice. That decision will either unite the opposition or fracture it before the real battle with the APC begins.
