Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, has declared that Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, remains the only credible opposition voice in Nigeria’s political landscape.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Wednesday, Fayose said that despite ongoing alliances among opposition figures, President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) remain politically unshakable ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Tell me, who will defeat the APC?” Fayose asked rhetorically. “The only opposition that I know in Nigeria—the only one that still has traction—is Obi. I didn’t say he can defeat Asiwaju, but he’s the only one people still listen to. The rest are just filling the gap.”
He praised Obi for maintaining visibility and credibility even after losing the 2023 election, describing him as “the only voice still talking, still resonating with Nigerians, and still everywhere despite not being in government.”
Fayose, a two-term governor and a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dismissed other opposition leaders, including Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, and Rotimi Amaechi, as politically inactive. “Atiku is filling the gap, and the others too, because people don’t listen to them anymore,” he stated.
Recently, Atiku, Obi, El-Rufai, and Amaechi were reported to have formed a coalition to challenge the APC in 2027 under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
But Fayose waved off the alliance, calling it a political experiment destined to fail. “Listen to me, ADC — they are our old friends, senior colleagues, junior colleagues, but let me tell you, ADC is going nowhere,” he said firmly. He emphasized that President Tinubu’s political machinery and the APC’s nationwide structure make it nearly impossible for any coalition to dislodge them at the polls.