macron moment?

Nigeria 2023: Can Peter Obi end PDP, APC’s 24-year duopoly?

By Akin Irede

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Posted on May 31, 2022 13:44

Nigeria presidential aspirant Peter Obi
Nigeria presidential aspirant Peter Obi (photo: Twitter)

Having dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Governor Peter Obi now believes he can realise his presidential ambition with the Labour Party, otherwise known as the 3rd force platform. Will he be able to spring an upset at the presidential poll next year?

When Emmanuel Macron broke through in French politics, it was because both major parties of government were in decline. Obi will be hoping that he has made the correct diagnosis of Nigeria’s own political landscape.

Obi has some substantial hurdles to clear in his route to the top job. He doesn’t belong to either the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the main opposition PDP. He hails from the southeast, Nigeria’s smallest voting bloc.

Although wealthy, he is not a spendthrift like your typical Nigerian politician. He is also not young and therefore not part of the ‘Sorosoke’ generation.

However, he enjoys major support from Nigeria’s youth – the largest demographic in Africa’s biggest democracy – and now hopes to galvanise this support into a revolution of sorts.

Can he pull it off?

This would not be the first time Obi would be attempting the seemingly impossible. In 2003, he

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