Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, says the yardsticks for choosing Nigeria’s next president will differ from those used ahead of the 2023 general election.

Naijaonpoint reports that Lawal, who backed Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi in the last poll, said political realities had shifted since then.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, he said, “They say a day in politics is long. Things have changed. The parameters we used to evaluate our candidate in 2023 are going to be different this time. Things have moved on, so we’ll see when we get there. We’ll see how it goes.”

The former SGF maintained that Obi was the “true winner” of the 2023 presidential election.

Commenting on northern political strategy ahead of 2027, Lawal stressed that the region must unite behind a candidate who understands its peculiar challenges and is willing to address them head-on.

He revealed that a coalition of northern politicians outside government had formed the Nigerian People’s Consultative Political Forum (North) to promote unity and tackle disunity in the region.

He said, “We had a group of people who started meeting with like minds, asking how we should approach this, what the issues are.

“Almost every significant northern politician who is not in government attends our meetings. The idea is to bring unity to the north. We agreed that we must vote as a bloc. If we don’t vote as a bloc, we will not be able to achieve our goals.”

Lawal said the forum resolved to back only a candidate, whether from the north, south, or “even from heaven” who understands the problems facing the region and is ready to address them.

“Eventually, we just decided that we can only pursue this if we are in one solid political party. And we all agree this solid political party can only be the ADC,” he stated.

On the national stage, Lawal mentioned several prominent figures as potential contenders in 2027, including former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

He concluded that the decision on who should lead Nigeria must go “beyond partisan loyalty or ethnic sentiment.”