A pro-Tinubu group plans to meet Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Emeka Anyaoku to persuade Peter Obi to step down from the 2027 presidential race and support Tinubu.
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Another Igbo group, the Igbo Heroes and Icons Foundation, has rejected the proposal and backed Obi’s right to contest the 2027 election.
A support group for President Bola Tinubu has announced plans to approach prominent Igbo leaders to persuade former Anambra State governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race and support Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The Southeast chapter of the Renewed Hope for Greater Nigeria (RHGN) said it would seek the intervention of the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku and former Chief of General Staff Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.
RHGN Southeast leader, Mazi Franklin Ngoforo, disclosed the plan in Owerri, Imo State, after a meeting of the group focused on strategies to secure victory for Tinubu across the five Southeast states in the 2027 election.
Ngoforo said the group intends to approach Ohanaeze Ndigbo under Senator John Azuta Mbata, alongside Anyaoku, Ukiwe and other influential Igbo leaders, and ask them to lead a delegation to Obi.
According to him, the proposed intervention is not intended to diminish Obi’s political standing or question his presidential ambition, but to persuade him to consider what RHGN described as the long-term strategic interests of the Southeast rather than focusing solely on the 2027 presidential contest.
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President Bola Tinubu
Ngoforo argued that the Southeast could gain more politically by supporting Tinubu in 2027 and building a strategic relationship with the Southwest that could potentially benefit the region when the presidency becomes available to it in the future.
He said Tinubu, if re-elected, would be constitutionally limited to another four-year term after 2027, and argued that this creates an opportunity for the Southeast to negotiate a political understanding with the Southwest.
“The issue is bigger than one election and bigger than one individual,” Ngoforo said.
He argued that the Southeast should view the 2027 election not simply as a contest between individual candidates but as an opportunity to build political goodwill and establish reciprocal relationships with other regions.
Ngoforo said supporting Tinubu now could potentially create what he described as a political compact that would strengthen the Southeast’s claim to the presidency when power next returns to the South.
He also argued that Obi’s withdrawal from the 2027 race would not necessarily mark the end of his presidential ambition.
According to Ngoforo, Obi is still young enough to pursue the presidency at another time, when circumstances could be more favourable to the Southeast.
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Peter Obi
The group’s position is that postponing Obi’s presidential ambition could allow the Southeast to build stronger political alliances and negotiate for future support.
In a more detailed argument reported by The Sun, Ngoforo also said RHGN wants Obi to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) and support Tinubu’s re-election. The group also pointed to disagreements surrounding candidate selection in the Southeast and argued that political power depends on alliances and political security rather than promises alone.
Ngoforo further argued that the presidency cannot be secured by one geopolitical zone acting alone, saying the Southeast should consider the political realities of building alliances with other regions.
“The presidency cannot be won by any zone acting alone,” he said, according to The Sun. “Supporting Tinubu’s second term could create a political debt that becomes useful when the Southeast makes its own claim. We should be in their debt, so that they owe in reciprocity.”
He also cited policy similarities between Obi and the Tinubu administration, including the removal of fuel subsidy, as part of the argument for cooperation between the two camps. Ngoforo questioned why Obi should seek to displace an administration whose major policy direction he allegedly agrees with.
The proposal, however, has already attracted opposition from another Southeast group.
The Igbo Heroes and Icons Foundation (IHIF) rejected RHGN’s plan and called on the group to allow Obi to exercise his constitutional right to contest the 2027 election.
IHIF National Coordinator, Chinedu Nsofor, said the group was campaigning for an Igbo presidency in 2027 and had adopted Obi as its preferred candidate.
Nsofor argued that RHGN should not attempt to persuade Obi to abandon his ambition, stressing the importance of what he described as fairness, equity and justice in Nigeria’s political process.
The latest development therefore remains a proposal from a pro-Tinubu support group. There is no indication in the reports that Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anyaoku or Ukiwe has accepted RHGN’s request to lead a delegation to Obi.
There is also no indication that Obi has agreed to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race or support Tinubu.
The move comes as political groups and prospective candidates intensify consultations and alliance-building ahead of the 2027 presidential election.