Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has stated that the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi will not agree to a political coalition.
According to him, Obi would not agree to a coalition that is designed to support Atiku’s presidential ambition.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, Olayinka argued that Atiku’s push for the coalition is simply to realise his presidential ambition.
“The moment you are doing coalition, and that coalition is to support one person’s ambition. Who is talking about coalition Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and who is thinking about benefiting from coalition Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, how will coalition now work? The moment you are talking about coalition to to benefit Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, coalition will not work,” he said.
Olayinka insisted that the coalition will not work because Atiku and Obi will not be able to agree on who the platform should present as its presidential candidate for the coming election.
“Is anything working in coalition today? It has failed before they even started with it. They will tell you that, Alhaji Atiku will run with Peter Obi. Will Peter Obi agree to run with Atiku Abubakar? Will Atiku allow Peter Obi to run as President under the coalition? Or will Peter Obi allow another person to be presented as candidate? These are the issues. It cannot work and it will not work,” he said.
The FCT minister’s aide concluded that the fact that the coalition has not fully formed with identifiable presidential and vice presidential candidates indicates that the agenda is dead on arrival.