The coalition that was supposed to save Nigeria from itself didn’t even last long enough to pick a candidate. In what has become a predictable tragedy for the opposition, the dream of a united front was eaten alive by the very thing it was built to contain: ambition.
Peter Obi’s recent defection from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) wasn’t a bolt from the blue. For those paying attention, it was the inevitable end of a marriage of necessity that had grown toxic long before the ink dried on the alliance. Alongside him, Rabiu Kwankwaso made the jump, triggering a mass exodus that left the ADC technically “dead” in the eyes of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
So what exactly happened behind the curtains of the Ibadan summit?Let’s call it what it was: a fight over who would sit in the front seat and who would ride in the back.
Looking at the sheer volume of attacks pouring from Atiku Abubakar’s camp toward Peter Obi, one thing becomes clear, those who follow politics closely had seen this coming from a mile away.
The former vice president’s people had been quietly positioning the former Anambra State governor for the number two spot, the same arrangement they ran in 2019.
That was the quiet understanding. Obi would bring the street credibility, the viral momentum, the young followers. Atiku would bring the heavy machinery, the donor network, the northern strongholds. And when the dust settled, Obi would be standing behind Atiku, not shoulder to shoulder.Obi’s inner circle saw the trap.
Ifeanyi Uzokwe, a member of the House of Representatives, put it bluntly. He said the entire arrangement fell apart because Atiku kept insisting that “the coalition was formed in his house… ADC is his party.”
For Obi and his people, the union moved from a coalition to acquisition. They walked into those meetings hoping for a genuine rotation that would naturally hand the presidential ticket to the South, to complete the next four years of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is also from the South. But the veteran politician from Adamawa apparently had a different script in his pocket.
Nobody in the coalition wanted to cook in the open. Atiku wanted to cook in his own kitchen with his own recipes. Obi wanted an air-conditioned setup where he wouldn’t break a sweat. And when the kitchen got hot and the doors were thrown open, everyone fled.
Then the mud started flying.Dino Melaye, carrying water for the Atiku faction, unleashed that now-famous kitchen analogy. He described Obi as a politician who “can only operate in an air-conditioned kitchen.”
Real politicians, Melaye argued, fight their battles in hot kitchens, meaning competitive primaries where nothing is handed over. The accusation stung because there is some truth to it. Obi has rarely had to scrap for a ticket.
He walked into APGA. He was handed the PDP vice-presidential slot in 2019. Labour Party gave him a free platform. The moment the ADC started looking like a genuine fight, possibly against Atiku or even Rotimi Amaechi, Obi allegedly found the exit.But anyone in Obi’s position would have a reason to step aside. He knows how primary elections in Nigeria are conducted.
His supporters have been blunt about it. Dr. Yunusa Tanko, who coordinates the Obidient movement and served as Obi’s campaign spokesman, said it plainly: “An Obi will never go into a primary election where he has to buy out the delegates. It is a fact that in Nigeria of today, delegates in every primary are being purchased. It is even in dollars and not naira.”
That is the dirty secret nobody in the Atiku camp wants to admit. Primaries have become auctions.
The cost of a presidential nomination form across major parties now runs as high as N100 million just for the paperwork. But that is pocket change compared to what aspirants spend to “persuade” delegates, thousands of dollars per handshake, flights, hotels, envelopes fat with foreign currency.
A former senator, Shehu Sani, put it memorably when he said it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to beat Atiku in a primary.
A competitive primary under ADC would have been a dollar war, and Obi, who has built his brand on being frugal, on cutting costs, on refusing to play the money game, would have been forced to either compromise everything he claims to stand for or lose badly.
He chose to walk. Whether that is principle or cowardice depends entirely on which kitchen you are standing in.On the flip side, the Obidient faithful have a different villain in their story. They see Atiku as the immovable object.
In their telling, the former vice president’s stubborn refusal to step aside for a younger candidate from the South is what wrecked the PDP. Now he is doing the same thing to the ADC. “Let Atiku say today that he is stepping down and has conceded to the South, Peter Obi will come back tomorrow,” Uzokwe fired back.
The Presidency, always happy to watch the opposition eat itself, jumped into the fray through Bayo Onanuga.
He called Obi a “political nomad made of jelly,” suggesting the former governor lacks the stomach for a real political slugfest.So what really killed the coalition? The answer is painfully straightforward. Everyone wanted to lead.
Nobody wanted to follow. Atiku has the machinery but cannot win a popularity contest. Obi has the crowd but refuses to do the boring work of building a party from the ground up. Kwankwaso has the Kano votes but will not play second fiddle to anyone.
You cannot build a united front when every single person walking in believes he is the chosen one.Now that the whole thing has collapsed, the search is back on for a southern running mate.
Will the former vice president turn to Amaechi? What about Seyi Makinde? Amaechi comes with his own heavy luggage and his own oversized ambition. Makinde, for all his solid work in Oyo State, is playing a long game that may not include being anyone’s deputy.
The dream of a strong opposition ticket is fading by the day for the man from the old Gongola State.And that is the real tragedy.
The opposition has learned absolutely nothing. They will limp into 2027 fractured, bitter, and pointing fingers. Meanwhile, the kitchen remains blazing hot. And Peter Obi? He has already found another air-conditioned room to catch his breath.
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