The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi met Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP) in Abuja on Monday.
The details of the private meeting has been revealed.
Atiku, a former vice-president of Nigeria announced the development in a post on his official X handle.
“It was my honour and privilege to host @PeterObi today. -AA,” Atiku wrote.
The meeting was the first between the two politicians since the end of the general elections last year.
Obi was Atiku’s running mate in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 presidential election.
However Obi, a former Anambra governor, left the PDP ahead of 2023 to join the Labour Party (LP) in a bid to fulfill his presidential ambition.
DAILY GIST recalls that Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe disclosed in an interview that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was instrumental in the exit of Obi from the party and not Atiku.
The duo, however lost the election to President Bola Tinubu
Recall that Atiku had called for a “united political parties” ahead of the 2027 presidential election soon after the conclusion of the legal tussle that followed the 2023 presidential election
He had urged all political parties to merge in order to uproot the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.
Obi, until Monday’s visit had not given Atiku’s call any response, a call which former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido has also been championing.
Obi also paid a visit to Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, at his residence in Abuja.
Obi was widely blamed for the defeat of the PDP in the last election of 2023 having defected to the Labour Party thus depleting the voting power of the PDP according to political analysts and PDP members.
The former Anambra governor was said to have renewed merger talks when he met with Atiku on Monday.
A source in the Labour Party which was one of the six spokespersons of the party’s presidential campaign council told THE WHISTLER that “Obi being Obi will never reject any idea to move Nigeria forward. He sees Atiku as his leader as he has severally professed.
“We have to wait to see the outcome of the latest move but merger? It’s not a bad idea and I think he, like all PDP members and supporters, are disposed to it having seen what happened in 2023.
“But it’s a closed-door meeting but I can tell you, it’s not off the mark when one says it’s a merger talk. I won’t say more than that because it’s early days,” the former spokesperson said.
There have been calls for Atiku to retire from politics, bless a young candidate having been a candidate for several times.
