Former Political Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Akin Osuntokun, has dismissed claims that the former Nigerian leader is working to advance President Bola Tinubu’s political interests ahead of the 2027 general election, insisting instead that Obasanjo is backing a proposed presidential ticket involving Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Osuntokun made the remarks during an interview on ARISE News on Sunday, where he described an Obi-Kwankwaso alliance as a more realistic and formidable political arrangement than the Labour Party’s presidential ticket in the 2023 election.
According to him, the proposed alliance would be better positioned to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because of Kwankwaso’s strong political influence, especially in Kano State, one of Nigeria’s most populous states.
“Obi and Kwankwaso is a much more realistic, more compelling ticket than the 2023 one,” Osuntokun said.
He argued that Kwankwaso’s political base would significantly strengthen the alliance and improve its chances in the 2027 presidential election.
Osuntokun also rejected suggestions that Obasanjo’s recent public exchange with former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba was intended to benefit President Tinubu or weaken the opposition.
Instead, he maintained that Obasanjo remains one of the strongest critics of Tinubu’s administration and is actively supporting the proposed Obi-Kwankwaso partnership.
“Look, Obasanjo is critical of Tinubu. If you can say that Obasanjo is supporting any ticket, it is Peter Obi and Kwankwaso. As a matter of fact, he is the main sponsor of that ticket,” he said.
He further claimed that the former president personally brought Obi and Kwankwaso together in an effort to build a stronger opposition ahead of the next presidential election.
“He was the one who brokered the ticket between Obi and Kwankwaso. Both of them are quite close to him,” Osuntokun stated.
According to him, the proposed alliance has the potential to reshape the political landscape ahead of the 2027 polls.
“That, of course, is a ticket that makes sense and has the potential to make a lot of impact in the 2027 election. I can tell you that for free, that he was the one who brought the ticket together,” he added.
Osuntokun also revealed that Obasanjo had attempted to facilitate a similar political arrangement before the 2023 general election, but the effort did not succeed.
Recalling one of the discussions, he claimed Obasanjo once told Kwankwaso that if the alliance had been accepted earlier, both politicians could have shared power under a one-term arrangement.
According to Osuntokun, Obasanjo told Kwankwaso: “If you had agreed the other time, both of you would have spent one term, and Kwankwaso would have been the beneficiary of that.”
His comments come amid renewed public debate over Obasanjo’s recent open letter responding to allegations made by former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba over the 2003 general elections.
Earlier this month, Osoba published an article titled *How Obasanjo Deceived Us in 2003*, in which he accused the former president of misleading leaders of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Afenifere ahead of the election. He alleged that the actions contributed to the defeat of several AD governors across the South-West.
In a reply dated July 23 and titled Reply to Your Inaccurate Posture: “How Obasanjo Deceived Us in 2003”, Obasanjo denied the allegations, insisting that Osoba’s account was incomplete and inaccurate.
The former president also rejected claims that his administration manipulated the outcome of the 2003 governorship elections in the South-West.
In the letter, Obasanjo revisited his long-running political disagreement with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, accusing him of working with Alliance for Democracy governors to undermine his administration during his first term in office.
He also alleged that Atiku supported an impeachment plot against him while serving as vice president.
Atiku, however, rejected the allegations, describing them as politically motivated. He questioned why Obasanjo chose to revive the bribery claims only after the death of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, who was one of the principal figures in the impeachment crisis of the early Fourth Republic.
Reacting to suggestions that Obasanjo’s recent public statements were designed to help Tinubu politically, Osuntokun dismissed the claim as illogical.
“How do you reconcile Obasanjo being the major sponsor of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket with the theory that he is working for Tinubu because Tinubu visited him?” he asked.
Osuntokun also defended Obasanjo against allegations that he manipulated the outcome of the 2003 South-West governorship elections to remove Alliance for Democracy governors from office.
“I can definitely tell you that there was no such thing that happened,” he said.
He argued that the electoral losses suffered by the AD governors were the result of political realities in the affected states rather than interference by the presidency.
Despite expressing confidence in the proposed Obi-Kwankwaso alliance, Osuntokun acknowledged that President Tinubu would enter the 2027 election with the traditional advantage enjoyed by incumbents.
“It has always become a norm that an incumbent in power has the advantage to be elected. So that is there,” he said.
However, he insisted that, in his view, a presidential ticket led by Obi would attract greater public support than one headed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“But the Obi ticket, for me, is stronger in the popular imagination than the Atiku ticket,” Osuntokun said.