A leading figure in the Labour Party (LP), Abayomi Arabambi, has cast doubt on Peter Obi’s recent pledge to serve only one term if elected president in 2027, warning Nigerians not to take the former Anambra State governor at his word.
Speaking during an interview on The Morning Brief on Channels Television, Arabambi questioned Obi’s political integrity, using his defection from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as a key example of broken promises.
“So, we are not going to trust him,” Arabambi said on the programme.
“So, Peter Obi cannot be telling Nigerians, ‘Oh don’t worry, I will do a single term’ when ab initio with his own mouth, he said he would stay in APGA; he is not going to leave,” added the LP’s factional national publicity secretary.
Obi, who finished third in the 2023 presidential election with over six million votes, has in recent weeks reaffirmed his commitment to a single-term presidency, if given the mandate in 2027.
“In my political life, my word is my bond… My vow to serve only one term of four years is a solemn commitment, rooted in my conviction that purposeful, transparent leadership does not require an eternity,” Obi tweeted on Sunday.
However, Arabambi dismissed this statement as unreliable, arguing that Obi benefitted from the youth-led frustration with former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), rather than from any strong party structure or ideology.
He also accused Obi of not contributing financially to the Labour Party’s activities during the last election.
“No kobo of Peter Obi entered the party,” Arabambi claimed, asserting that the LP “made” Obi, not the other way around.
Meanwhile, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has spoken out in defense of Obi, reaffirming her belief in his sincerity and vision for the country.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Amazing Africans, Chimamanda emphasized that Obi is not driven by desperation, but by a genuine desire to serve.
“He (Obi) doesn’t need to be president. He wants to be because he cares about Nigeria, but he doesn’t need to be. And that is a very important distinction,” she said.
She contrasted Obi with other politicians whom she described as power-hungry.
“There are people who are desperate to become president, not because they have any good intentions for the country, but because of their egos.”
The award-winning author also praised Obi’s approach to leadership.
“Peter Obi is not a person who expects you to thank him for doing his job as a leader, because to him it’s his job,” she noted.
“There’s a sense, I think, in Peter Obi that he’s accountable to the people. He doesn’t think that somehow he will lord it over people.”
