Olujimi: Peter Obi’s 2023 Rhetoric Won’t Dismantle Tinubu in 2027
By: IDNN Political Desk
ABUJA — A former Senate Minority Leader and ex-deputy governor of Ekiti State, Senator Biodun Olujimi, has issued a political broadside at Peter Obi, stating categorically that his celebrated 2023 election rhetoric will not dismantle President Bola Tinubu’s re-election ambitions in 2027.
Olujimi, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, argued that while Obi’s articulate campaign performance captivated many voters in 2023, it is unlikely to survive a rematch against a sitting president with Tinubu’s grassroots leverage and institutional grip.
“The rhetoric of the last election will not work again,” she declared. “Except he comes with another gimmick. And you see, this man—Tinubu—is a politician. A man who knows the terrain well.”
It wasn’t just a critique—it was a coronation of Tinubu’s political dexterity. According to Olujimi, the current president represents Nigeria’s first real “dyed-in-the-wool” political tactician to occupy Aso Rock. And that, she says, changes the entire dynamics.
“This is a man who has worked with everyone, who has been useful to everyone, who has had opportunities to assist governments,” she said. “Beating him? Uphill task.”
From Critic to Convert
In what many political observers now view as a defining political shift, Olujimi recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC)—a move she now defends without hesitation.
“This government is pragmatic. It’s resolute, it’s taking tough decisions and running with them,” she said. “The APC I joined today is not the APC I used to criticise.”
She praised Tinubu’s administration for not retreating from bold policy decisions in the face of public backlash, stating that it signaled a government serious about governance—not populism.
“Unlike previous governments that would drop reforms when people complain, this one takes the bull by the horns,” Olujimi insisted. “That is what I saw in the new APC.”
PDP? No Future There Anymore
Olujimi admitted her departure from the PDP, the party that gave her political prominence, may seem unfair to some, but she painted the picture of a party that had lost its way—disconnected from grassroots energy and riddled with internal inertia.
“I would rather leave the PDP than stay there and work against it,” she said flatly.
She further revealed that her local supporters in Ekiti welcomed her move to the APC, seeing it as aligning with the region’s prevailing political wind.
On the rising opposition alignment under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Olujimi dismissed it as irrelevant in Ekiti.
“The ADC doesn’t have the kind of state or local government structures I need to contest and win elections in Ekiti,” she stated.
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What This Means for 2027
Olujimi’s endorsement of Tinubu is far more than party loyalty—it’s a calculated assessment of the political chessboard ahead of 2027. With opposition leaders still squabbling over coalitions and defections, Olujimi believes the incumbent is simply too entrenched to be dethroned by recycled tactics.
The warning is clear: charisma without strategy won’t unseat a master tactician.
“It’s tough,” she said again. “Beating Tinubu? That’s an uphill task.”
FOOTNOTE
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