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Yunusa Tanko, the National Coordinator of Obidient Movement, speaks to CHIBUIKE CHUKWU on a number of issues ahead of the 2027 general elections, including the highly controversial primaries of political parties, particularly those of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the escalation of insecurity in the country and why Nigerians should rally to rescue the country from misgovernance. Excerpts
You might have seen the primary elections of some of the political parties, particularly those of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). One noticeable thing is the geometrical inflation of figures where they would count to, say 100, and then jump to 3,000. While the development has been widely criticised, what do you think it portends ahead of the 2027 general elections?
This particular action has exposed APC that they don’t really have people on ground and they intend to manipulate the system. They are jumping numbers just to show you that they are having the numbers while they don’t have it. That shows you the criminality involved. It’s enough to tell anybody that this election will not be free and fair. It also tells you that there’s a criminal tendency in this orchestrated incident.
Some Nigerians who also criticised the counting said the ruling party did what they did in order to use the same in the main election as a bait to also inflate Tinubu’s votes, with an argument that if he could score such in the primaries, it would be a walkover for him. Are there efforts the opposition parties are putting in place to checkmate this in 2027?
It is a concern and that’s why we too have to go and prepare and ask the people also to prepare to vote and protect their votes because they are the real votes. These ones are fake votes. I mean the votes of Nigerians are the real votes but what APC brandished at the primaries are fake votes. While the opposition will prepare themselves to go against this particular evil act, they, I mean all Nigerians, too should also join us in defending this particular election because with the primaries, what APC is planning is very unfortunate.
I came across a group on the social media space mobilising Nigerians through registration to ensure that votes next year are counted by ensuring that there would be someone at every polling unit to guard against rigging; are you aware of all these efforts, particularly as they concern Peter Obi?
There are various groups doing one thing or the other, preparing themselves and how to protect the votes. And so we say kudos to them while we also do what we need to do. Obviously next year’s election will decide a lot of things and I am sure Nigerians are not happy with their current living standards. So we salute those who are putting efforts to make sure that it won’t be business as usual in next year’s elections.
INEC has appealed the Federal High Court ruling against some aspects of the released timetable ahead of the 2027 elections. What do you think is the implications of the appeal given that some opposition parties are already fuming over that move by the umpire?
That shows you that they were actually not prepared in the first place. INEC, through the appeal, also exposed their unpreparedness from the whole exercise. Also, what the whole drama is trying to do is to create chaos by extending the time when everybody has almost concluded its own primary. And so by elongating it, give them room to go and do all kinds of litigation that will cause uncertainty in the process of the election. If they knew this, why would they even have jumped and rearranged the voting process in the first place?
Given the shortness of the 2027 elections, some people believe INEC was right in the first place to even put the election timetable out. What is your take on this?
They knew what they were doing before. They thought the process would favor them. But now it has boomeranged into another area where people are now ready. Even if they give themselves one day to do the election, people will be ready to say this is the person that they want. In our case, people want His Excellency Mr. Peter to be there. Therefore, now that it’s clear that the man has gotten his own ticket and is going to be on the ballot, they now look for another alternative way to provoke chaos and uncertainty in the system.
Presently, there are lots of people on the social media space already campaigning for a change of government, with so many of them rooting for Peter Obi, and devising various means to do that. One northerner is very vocal on this and this is why I have to ask this question: how is Peter Obi accepted in the north? This question is imperative given that many people, particularly those from the APC, have resonated with their allegations of Obi not accepted in the north etc
No matter what such people are telling you, I think it comes quite late. You can see his acceptance in the north is through his colleague that is running with him, I mean Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. They are deeply together. Their alignment now and working together shows how Obi is accepted in the north and other parts of the country. Those that have always said this have always come up with this issue because they want to play ethnic cards but he is the man at the center of the event right now, and he has very wide acceptance not only in the north but around the country. Last election proved that Obi is highly accepted everywhere, you can do your independent investigation, from the 2023 until today, you can see Peter Obi has been accepted by a large number of people.
Obi joined NDC and surprisingly someone is taking the party to court as I read that the court had fixed a date for the hearing. This same thing happened when he was in the ADC, and now it is happening again. In all honesty, do you think Peter Obi is being targeted ahead of the 2027 elections?
Sure, because the target is to ensure that he doesn’t have a ticket to run for election. That’s their target, but of course they have failed, because all of these issues have already been challenged, and already nullified in the courts. So continuously they keep on failing in all their attempts to deny him the right to be voted for.
Is it true that Peter Obi has a hand in the formation of the Nigeria Democratic Congress as it has been alleged in some quarters?
My brother, you heard the main story and the formation of NDC from the national leader of the party, His Excellency Hon. Seriake Dickson. Any other contrary story is fake. Like I said earlier, people are just ready to cause chaos everywhere but I charge Nigerians not to listen to them.
What is your take on the increase in insecurity in the country, particularly the recent attack on schools in Oyo State where children and teachers were taken hostage?
Clearly, people do not care for the life and properties of Nigeria. The attack and those before that one show failure of governance. People in the government are doing what they are doing in their own interest. And therefore, this attack highly exposed the government beyond reasonable doubt. For a government to be effective, it has to achieve the purpose of making sure that it secures the life and properties of Nigerians. Once you as a leader cannot do it, then there is something else involved.
Kenneth Okonkwo has been in the news lately because of his sustained attack on Peter Obi. Given that in the 2023 election, he supported Obi very well, what is your take on this?
Well, you see, when you wash your dirty clothes inside your room, you either pour the dirty water through the drainage and then it comes out through the gutter and everybody will see how dirty the water is. I can’t say more than that because Kenneth Okonkwo was being respected very much by His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi. Peter Obi doesn’t hate anybody. But when you speak ill of him, it always comes out. The truth always prevails. So that’s the most I can say about Kenneth Okonkwo. I don’t want to go further than that.
In one of his allegations against Peter Obi, Okonkwo said the former Anambra governor is afraid of challenges, in this case going through primaries, and that is why he exited the African Democratic Congress
How challenging can it be for someone to aspire to be president of Nigeria, challenging and incumbent in the process? How challenging can it be? You see, all these things are just misplaced arguments. How can you say someone who wants to run for the office of the president is afraid? How can you be afraid and you want to challenge the shark in his domain? I mean to challenge an incumbent for his position. The issue is that Obi doesn’t want to go through the primary that is highly monetised instead of pursuing credibility. Look at the issues that ADC is going through today and you will understand what and where Obi is coming from. They want him to remain there so that they could do all sorts of things but the man wants to go to where such problems are not and he has achieved that and gotten the ticket. One cannot be afraid and then go and challenge the incumbent in an election, so there is no argument that Obi is afraid, it doesn’t add up.
