Osuntokun says Obasanjo supports Obi-Kwankwaso alliance, not Tinubu

Akin Osuntokun, who used to advise ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso is more realistic and appealing than what the Labour Party had in 2023.

In an interview on ARISE News on Sunday, Osuntokun stated that the alliance, which he claims Obasanjo helped create, has a better chance in the 2027 presidential election because of Kwankwaso's influence, especially in Kano State.

"Obi and Kwankwaso is a much more realistic, more compelling ticket than the 2023 one," Osuntokun said.

He pointed out that Kwankwaso's political support would be "a big bonus" for their ticket.

Osuntokun dismissed claims that Obasanjo’s recent letter to former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba was meant to help President Bola Tinubu. He insisted that his former boss is still critical of Tinubu's government and is supporting the Obi-Kwankwaso alliance.

"Look, Obasanjo is critical of Tinubu. If you can say that Obasanjo is supporting any ticket, it is Peter Obi and Kwankwaso. As a matter of fact, he is the main sponsor of that ticket," he said.

Osuntokun also said that Obasanjo was the one who brought both Obi and Kwankwaso together. "He was the one who brokered the ticket between Obi and Kwankwaso. Both of them are quite close to him," he added.

He continued, "That, of course, is a ticket that makes sense and has the potential to make a lot of impact in the 2027 election. I can tell you that for free, that he was the one who brought the ticket together."

Osuntokun further claimed that Obasanjo tried to create a similar partnership ahead of the 2023 election, but it did not happen. He remembered Obasanjo telling Kwankwaso, "If you had agreed the other time, both of you would have spent one term, and Kwankwaso would have been the beneficiary of that."

These comments come as discussions grow about Obasanjo’s recent response to Osoba’s claims about the 2003 general elections. Osuntokun argued that linking Obasanjo to Tinubu’s interests does not match his support for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket.

"How do you reconcile Obasanjo being the major sponsor of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket with the theory that he is working for Tinubu because Tinubu visited him?" he asked.

He also denied that Obasanjo influenced the 2003 South-West governorship elections to remove Alliance for Democracy governors. "I can definitely tell you that there was no such thing that happened," he said. He added that the losses faced by the AD governors were due to the political situation in each state, not manipulation.

Even though he supports the Obi-Kwankwaso alliance, Osuntokun admitted that Tinubu has the edge of being the incumbent going into the 2027 presidential election.

"It has always become a norm that an incumbent in power has the advantage to be elected. So that is there," he said.

He, however, believes that an Obi-led ticket will be more appealing to the public than one led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. "But the Obi ticket, for me, is stronger in the popular imagination than the Atiku ticket," Osuntokun said.