I Can’t Guarantee NDC’s Organisational Strength, But Obi Has Majority Support From Nigerians — Ulasi

Chief Dan Ulasi is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a former chairman of the party in Anambra State. In this interview, he speaks on the 2027 general elections; why the opposition hasn’t done much to market their programmes, stressing that the opposition has so much to use against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), especially in the area of hardship. According to him, the opposition is fragmented ahead of the 2027 general elections, but he’s optimistic that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) will win the election if it is free and fair, among other issues. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:

With the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Governor Chukwuma Soludo and Governor Ademola Adeleke all supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, do you think there is still a possibility of a robust challenge in 2027?

That’s a very complicated question because every Nigerian has a constitutional right to support whoever they choose. Even as a national leader of a political party, you can decide to support a friend who is running for office. However, values come into question, including social and moral values, and whether certain decisions are right or wrong.

I want to say something: there is no serious political process going on in Nigeria at the moment. Let me take you back four years ago, when Tinubu said ‘it is my turn.’ When politics is reduced to the idea that it is somebody’s turn, you can no longer take the process seriously. That was when I lost faith.

At the last PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, I told them that the person who declared that it was his turn is still in the race and had not changed his mind. So, what exactly are we doing? The national leader of our party, who is also a minister in this government, is supporting Tinubu. Unfortunately, I consider that morally wrong although he has a constitutional right to do so. I have said this on your programme before. It is difficult for me to look at Nyesom Wike, a man I hold in very high esteem, and understand that decision. In a country where many public officeholders fail to perform, Wike did excellently well during his eight years as governor of Rivers State. Similarly, David Umahi performed well as governor of Ebonyi State. As Minister of Works, he is also doing well compared to what we experienced under the previous administration in that sector.

When people express a desire to support a particular candidate, there must be reasons for their decisions. However, I can tell you that those decisions were not taken, at least not in my presence. I also have the right to make my own choice. Whether the opposition can change the status quo is a serious question.

In Nigeria, it is difficult to remove an incumbent president because the government has enormous resources, security forces and other advantages at its disposal. I have witnessed elections in which people were taken away by the police at the ward level.

After the election and the results had been written, they were brought back and told that the police had made a mistake about their identities or were looking for somebody else. So, an election is coming in the next few months, but whether it will reflect the genuine wishes, interests and values of Nigerians is another question. Only God can answer that.

So, it is clear that you’re not supporting your party’s preferred presidential candidate?

On this platform and in Enugu, I said I was supporting Peter Obi, and I gave my reasons. I also said that Wike had a constitutional right to support whoever he wanted, although I consider his decision unfortunate. As a leader of a national party, I believe he shouldn’t have taken that position. However, as an ordinary member of the party, I also have the right to make my own choice.

The APC appears better organised than the opposition at the moment. Do you agree, and where can the opposition gain an advantage ahead of 2027?

What you have said is not a hasty generalisation; it is factual. The opposition appears fragmented, and the only opposition force I see making a serious effort in this election is Peter Obi and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Atiku Abubakar has a serious handicap because of an unwritten political arrangement in Nigeria – power moves from the North to the South and then back to the North.

I told him in 2023 that his ambition would face this difficulty. There must be a sense of fairness in this country for everybody. If Buhari had just completed eight years in office, I didn’t see how another northerner could reasonably seek to govern for another eight years immediately afterwards. It may not be constitutionally wrong, but I consider it morally wrong.

There was an upset in 2023. Before then, Nigeria had largely operated on a Muslim-Christian presidential ticket, but the APC presented a Muslim-Muslim ticket and won. Does that not show that there can be surprises in election cycles?

If you go back to your archives, you will find that I’ve discussed the Muslim-Muslim ticket before. For me, Nigerians are Nigerians. Religion has never been a determining factor in my political discussions; absolutely not. You cannot deny your ethnicity. You are an Igbo-Nigerian or a Yoru ba-Nigerian.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo said in 1979 that he had no apologies to offer for being a Yoruba man, but that he was as much a Nigerian as anybody else. Your name can sometimes indicate where you come from. If you hear Okafor, you may identify the person as being from Igbo land.

If you hear Oyewole, you may associate the person with Yoruba heritage. However, names don’t always tell the whole story. Some Igbo parents give their children Yoruba names because of the environment in which they grew up or people they admire. That doesn’t make those children any less Igbo.

My point is that an election is coming, but I cannot confidently assess the organisational strength of the NDC because I’m not a member of the party. I cannot swear to how organised it is. As for whether Peter Obi enjoys the support of the majority of Nigerians, I think he apparently does, given the serious shortcomings of this government, including inflation and rising food prices.

There are many issues the opposition can exploit. Whether it is doing so effectively is another matter.

Is the opposition exploiting those issues effectively?

I don’t think so. I want to be honest with myself. By now, we should be seeing town hall meetings across the geopolitical zones. We should see either the NDC presidential candidate or the party’s national chairman and executive members moving from one part of the country to another, engaging Nigerians.

They should be in Enugu today, Lagos tomorrow and somewhere else the following day, explaining their programmes and listening to the people. I don’t see that happening. Nigerians are waiting for such information to guide their decisions, but the opposition is not providing it adequately.

That brings us to Peter Obi himself. Are you confident in his chances given the internal disagreements within the NDC?

Let me say something. In 2023, I said on this platform that anybody who took Tinubu for granted was doing so at their own peril. He is one of the most strategic politicians in this country. When he was preparing to contest, we held an emergency meeting. Some people, including governors, were saying that the election had already been won.

I told them they were joking. They asked me to leave the meeting, and I said that if I walked out, others would follow me. I stood up, and several people followed. Atiku later called me, and I returned to the meeting. I asked them: Who had won? What election had Atiku won against Tinubu? What had we done on the ground to demonstrate that Atiku would defeat him?

We eventually went into the election and Tinubu won. Now, we’re approaching another election cycle, and as you rightly observed, the opposition is even more fragmented than it was in 2023. Only God can answer whether there will be a dramatic change. As things stand, it’ll take something extraordinary for anybody to stop Tinubu.

I want the opposition to win because I cannot clearly identify the benefits Nigerians have received from this government, apart from announcements about projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is currently a subject of contention. The problem is that the opposition has not presented convincing alternative programmes and strong policy positions.

This is the time when Obi should be speaking to Nigerians, when the national chairman should be addressing the country and when other opposition leaders should be presenting their positions. They are not doing enough. I speak out with humility, perhaps more than many of them do.

APC members sometimes call me to ask who I’m working for. I tell them that I’m working for Nigeria and speaking the truth. As I have said on this programme, since I began participating in politics in this country, I have neither given nor received cover from anybody. When I express my views, it’s not necessarily to oppose any individual but to support the Nigerian people.

That’s why I appreciate the work you do as journalists. You come to work every morning, take risks and inform Nigerians, so that they can make informed decisions about their future. To me, that is patriotism. Patriotism is not about collecting N10,000 here or $1,000 there. Where has that taken us after so many years?

Sixty-six years after independence, many communities still lack running water and reliable electricity, yet we seem shameless about the situation. You also see governors travelling in convoys of about 40 vehicles to attend programmes within their states, sometimes at locations less than 10 minutes away. That’s not the kind of leadership we need.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima said your preferred candidate has a reputation for using bogus statistics and offering inconsistent economic prescriptions. He also said Obi claimed to have won the 2023 presidential election without evidence. Do you agree with that assessment?

Let me tell you something about politics. It may not sound particularly pleasant, but allegations and counter-allegations are part of the political process. There is a story about Nnamdi Azikiwe and how he managed to secure an electoral advantage in the Western House of Assembly in 1952 after members crossed over to his side.

He reportedly illustrated how people could deny something even when confronted with what appeared to be evidence. We have also seen how allegations from a candidate’s past can affect political fortunes. In the United States, for instance, a presidential aspirant’s past conduct was brought into public debate during a primary campaign, and it damaged his prospects.

What I’m saying is that it’s difficult to assess the matter without examining the specific claims and the evidence behind them. In politics, opponents sometimes use allegations and blackmail to discredit one another. Such tactics may be morally wrong, but they occur regularly.

However, I expect Peter Obi, either personally or through his publicity secretary, to address the serious issues raised by the vice-president. These are not matters that should simply be swept under the carpet. If you want to become the president of Nigeria and such allegations are being made against you, you must respond and clarify your position.

I don’t believe those allegations are necessarily true. As I have said, political opponents sometimes make accusations to undermine one another. Nevertheless, the issues deserve a clear response.

What are your fears, anxieties and expectations regarding the 2027 election?

I have no fears. My expectation is that Peter Obi will win the majority of the votes. Let me explain. I believe he will secure more than 80 per cent of the votes in the South-East. In the last election, he received about 80.2 or 80.3 percent in the region. This time, I expect him to perform even better, possibly reaching 85 percent.

I met Governor Soludo at the government house about three weeks ago, and I told him that he would lose his ward. I’m saying it publicly now; many Igbos are not speaking openly about the election. Many Nigerians across the country are also not speaking the truth about the election.

People are worried about the state of the nation and they are prepared to make a change. The presidential election could produce one of the biggest surprises Nigeria will experience in 2027. People from different ethnic groups, including Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, are concerned about the country’s situation.

So, my advice to Peter Obi is to protect his votes. If the votes Nigerians come out to cast are properly counted, I believe he’ll win.

The South-East is not the only region that will determine the outcome of the election. The North has a large voting population. How do you think Obi will perform in Kano and other northern states?

I was once the state chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and later became involved in the PDP in Anambra State. That experience gave me contacts across the country. My former colleagues in the North sometimes call me to ask what is happening in the East, and I’m able to give them an accurate picture of the situation.

If there is a free and fair election in this country, I believe Peter Obi can secure at least 50 per cent of the votes in many northern states. I expect him to perform very well across the North-East. In the South-West, I believe he can defeat Tinubu in Lagos State.

That’s my assessment, unless the election doesn’t hold as expected or votes cast are not properly reflected in the announced results. This is not a threat. If people vote and their votes are manipulated, the government will have questions to answer.

Let me speak about ethnicity for a moment. As Nnamdi Azikiwe argued, ethnicity should be used pragmatically as an instrument of national unity. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, it is sometimes used to promote division and political advantage. The people of Lagos should be able to assess what they have gained from having a son of the state as president.

I challenge Tinubu to organise town hall meetings across the six geopolitical zones and explain what his government has achieved for each region. Let him engage Nigerians directly and tell them what his administration has done. That is how the people will determine whether his government has delivered meaningful benefits, including to the South-West.

Don’t you think Atiku will attract substantial votes in the North and pose a challenge to Obi?

In principle, I would have loved to support Atiku. However, I told him from the outset that the unwritten arrangement of power rotating between the North and the South was not working in his favour. He is not too old to contest again. He should exercise some patience and wait another four years. He remains strong and mentally alert.

Let me give you an example from my experience as a microbiologist. I had a professor from Cambridge who was almost 90 years old and came to teach us at Nsukka. He was brilliant. Knowledge and leadership are not determined by age alone. What matters is the ability to communicate effectively, demonstrate competence and convince people to follow you.

In the past, politicians such as Nnamdi Azikiwe could attract thousands of followers because of their ability to communicate and inspire people. Age may be a constraint in some circumstances, but it’s not necessarily an insurmountable obstacle.

Joy Anigbogu is Politics Editor with Independent Newspapers.

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