Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed talk of a potential alliance between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi unseating President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections, calling the idea “an unfruitful adventure.”
Speaking on Sunday, August 3, during Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Keyamo said Nigerians are already familiar with what he described as outdated tactics by the opposition.
“They know us very well, and we also know them very well. We are not strangers to each other. Some of these tactics they are using are what I call 419 tactics. These tactics have expired,” he said.
Keyamo took aim at the African Democratic Congress (ADC), accusing them of relying on deceptive political strategies that, in his view, no longer work.
He also criticised an unnamed opposition figure for displaying opulence while claiming to care for ordinary Nigerians.
“One of them is busy disgracing wealth every day, putting 500 cars in his garage and telling Nigerians he wants to rescue them,” he said.
According to him, the real issue for voters should be whether the Tinubu government is fixing the economy. “The answer is a resounding yes,” he declared.
He pointed to rising foreign reserves, growing government revenue, and a stabilising naira as proof that the economic fundamentals are on the right track.
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“These are indices of a healthy economy. It is the trickle-down effect that will finally free up spaces for jobs and put money in the pockets of Nigerians,” Keyamo explained.
He also dismissed the opposition’s focus on food prices and inflation, describing it as emotional and surface-level.
“They are using the prices of food items like yams to paint a grim picture, but they ignore the broader economic improvements,” he said.
Keyamo echoed President Tinubu’s recent description of the opposition as “a coalition of confused people,” and argued that even if Obi and Atiku teamed up, their combined votes would not surpass Tinubu’s 8.4 million from 2023.
“The idea that combining Peter Obi and Atiku’s figures will defeat our 8.4 million votes in 2023 – that alliance will not work,” he asserted.
He further predicted that two of Obi’s main support bases in 2023 – Christians and South-East voters – would collapse if he runs as a vice-presidential candidate in 2027.
“If Obi is made a deputy, the Christian demography will pull out and become apolitical,” he said, adding, “Besides, the President’s wife is a pastor, and that appeals to Christian voters too. That will neutralise any faith-based political calculation.”
Keyamo concluded by stating that young Nigerians would not support a ticket with “an 80-year-old Muslim president.”