Segun Sowunmi: PDP owes south-east a debt, but Obi thinks he’s too clever for primaries

Segun Sowunmi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says Peter Obi wants a presidential ticket without the rigour of a primary election.

He spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM.

The party chieftain said the PDP owes the Igbo a debt, recalling how he had advised Obi to return to the party.

His comment comes after the PDP’s national executive committee (NEC) threw the contest for the 2027 presidential ticket to the south.

“Peter is someone who doesn’t listen,” Sowunmi said.

“I told him more than three, four months ago that the time is now to return because the PDP owes the south-east a debt.

“The PDP owes the south-east a debt based on the fact that they have given every other tribe the ticket except the Igbos, and you have demonstrated capacity.

“The only thing there is that Peter thinks he’s too clever, he never wants to do primaries and anybody that doesn’t want to do primaries is looking for somebody to cheat on his behalf.

“Primaries is the internal democracy of parties, it’s only when you cross the hurdles of primaries that you can now be looking at the general election.

“But unfortunately, when they gave him a platform to manage like Labour, he could not manage it.

“Nigeria cannot be waiting for Peter. If Peter can’t be president as an Igbo person, one day we will find an Igbo person.”

On April 21, Sowunmi asked Obi to return to the PDP ahead of the 2027 presidential contest, adding that he needs a bigger platform going forward.

Obi, who left the PDP in June 2022, was handed the Labour Party (LP) presidential ticket for the 2023 election unopposed.

The politician recently pitched his tent with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition.