The Southeast chapter of the Renewed Hope for Greater Nigeria has resolved to engage prominent Igbo leaders in an effort to persuade former Anambra State governor and Nigerian Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
The group’s Southeast leader, Mazi Franklin Ngoforo, disclosed this in Owerri on Saturday following a meeting focused on strategies to secure victory for President Tinubu across polling units in the five Southeast states.
Ngoforo said the organisation planned to approach the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo under Senator John Azuta Mbata, as well as respected Igbo elder statesmen including Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.
He said the group would urge the leaders to constitute a delegation to meet with Obi and appeal to him to reconsider his presidential ambition ahead of the 2027 election.
According to Ngoforo, the proposed intervention was not aimed at diminishing Obi’s political stature or questioning his popularity among Nigerians.
Rather, he said the objective was to encourage the former governor to place what the group described as the long-term strategic interests of the Southeast above the immediate pursuit of the presidency in 2027.
Ngoforo argued that the Southeast should consider the potential political benefits of establishing a strategic alliance with the Southwest.
He said supporting Tinubu in 2027 could position the Southeast to secure reciprocal political commitments and strengthen its prospects of producing the next president when power eventually changes hands.
“With Tinubu constitutionally limited to one more term if re-elected, the Southeast should consider supporting the Southwest now while building a political compact capable of yielding uncontested dividends when power next returns to the South,” he said.
The group leader maintained that the 2027 presidential election should not be viewed simply as a contest that must produce an immediate winner from the Southeast.
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Instead, he said the region should approach the election as an opportunity to accumulate political goodwill, build alliances and establish reciprocal obligations with other regions.
Ngoforo appealed directly to Obi to consider withdrawing from the contest, arguing that such a decision would not necessarily amount to abandoning his presidential ambition.
He suggested that Obi could defer his ambition to what he described as a more politically favourable time.
“The issue is bigger than one election and bigger than one individual,” Ngoforo said.
He maintained that the central political question for the Southeast should be how to transform present-day alliances into future political gains, particularly the prospect of producing a president from the region.
The group said its proposed engagement with Igbo leaders would focus on persuading Obi to reassess the 2027 contest from the perspective of the long-term political interests of Ndigbo.
Ngoforo also said the organisation remained committed to mobilising support for Tinubu across the Southeast and ensuring that the President secured victory in polling units throughout the region in 2027.