Peter Obi: I’m ready to serve one term if elected president in 2027

Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, says he is willing to be a one-term president in 2027. 

Obi, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, ex-transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna; are putting together a coalition to possibly wrest federal power from President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election.

Speaking during a Twitter Space hosted by Parallel Facts on Sunday, Obi said any candidate from the south elected president in 2027 must be prepared to leave office on May 28, 2031, in line with the “unwritten power-sharing agreement” and the zoning principle.

He added that the zoning principle — which alternates the presidency between north and south — is a commitment he has long championed.

Should the coalition hand him the ticket for the 2027 presidency on the back of that gentleman’s agreement, and should he win the election, Obi said he would not stay a day longer in office.

“If you take the arrangement which is understandably what you can call an unwritten agreement that power would go south and north and if that arrangement is to be followed strictly, you would see that anybody, not just me, who happens to come from the south as president in 2027 must be ready to leave on the 28 of May (not 29), 2031,” he said.

Obi said he advocated for zoning in Anambra as governor, noting that his insistence on the principle has made him a target for political opponents.

“I campaigned for zoning. I championed zoning in Anambra state. That is one of the reasons today some people today feel we must deal with this man. I insisted on it, I maintained it and I followed it to the last letter and till today, I still follow it religiously,” he added.

The former governor said his character and integrity are more important to him than holding public office.

“I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria. If I have the opportunity and if the opportunity is for two years, in two years, I would be able to bring competency, capacity and compassion into governance,” Obi said.