Former Anambra State governor and presidential aspirant of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has dismissed claims that he is distancing himself from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Obi spoke on Friday in Cape Town, South Africa, during the Spier Dialogue 2026, a pan-African……
Former Anambra State governor and presidential aspirant of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has dismissed claims that he is distancing himself from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Obi spoke on Friday in Cape Town, South Africa, during the Spier Dialogue 2026, a pan-African governance forum, where he addressed growing speculation surrounding his political relationship with Atiku following the collapse of their alliance within the African Democratic Congress.
Reacting to suggestions that he had been avoiding the former vice-president, Obi insisted that the relationship between them remained cordial and longstanding.
“There are very few human beings who are as close as I am to Atiku. So I can’t be running from him. This man is my very respected leader and elder brother.
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“I don’t run from him. Never. It has nothing to do with running from anybody. I’ve never run from anybody. I just believe that I do things differently,” he said.
Obi and Atiku had earlier aligned politically under the African Democratic Congress as part of efforts to build a coalition capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
The partnership initially appeared solid after Obi formally joined the ADC on January 1, 2026, a move Atiku publicly welcomed as a major step toward opposition unity and coalition-building.
However, the alliance later unraveled amid internal disagreements within the party.
Explaining his departure from the ADC, Obi had maintained that his decision was not rooted in personal differences with Atiku or the party’s national chairman, David Mark.
He instead cited persistent internal crises and legal disputes within the party, which he said had shifted attention away from national issues.
Following their exit from the ADC, Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso moved to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), where both politicians called for an end to what they described as litigation-driven politics in the country.
