RMRDC boss asks Obi to drop 2027 bid and back Tinubu
- Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso asked Peter Obi to shelve his 2027 presidential ambition and support President Tinubu.
- He argued the South should finish its eight-year turn before power returns to the North.
- He also suggested Obi consider joining the APC and said the choice rests with Obi.
The head of a federal research agency has publicly asked Peter Obi to give up his 2027 presidential run and throw his weight behind President Bola Tinubu's re-election.
Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), made the call on Monday at a media session in Abuja.
His argument rests on an unwritten arrangement that has shaped Nigerian politics since 1999: the presidency should move between the North and the South. He said the South should be allowed to complete two terms before power returns to the North.
Obi, a former Anambra State governor, is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for 2027.
What Ike-Muonso said
According to Ike-Muonso, Obi has earned respect by pushing questions of public spending, accountability and economic management into national debate, and those issues should keep getting attention.
But he said leadership also means knowing when to run, when to work with others, and how best to serve the country. In his view, Obi should step back from the race and help Tinubu keep the South in power.
"Obi needs to step down," he said, asking him to shelve his ambition and work with the President.
He also floated the idea of Obi joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying membership would let him take part in policy debates and see how APC-run states handle infrastructure, education, health and investment.
Ike-Muonso was careful to add that the decision to join any party is Obi's to make.
He acknowledged that the Constitution does not require the presidency to rotate between North and South. The arrangement, he said, is a political tradition that parties have used to balance regional interests.
Why it matters beyond 2027
The RMRDC chief tied his appeal to the economy. He said the Tinubu administration's Renewed Hope Agenda gives agencies like his room to push local processing of raw materials, import substitution and value addition.
One proposal on the table is a law requiring at least 30 per cent processing of raw materials before they are exported. The aim is to keep more of the profit from Nigeria's resources at home, create jobs and support local factories.
The council is also mapping raw materials across all 774 local government areas to attract processing plants and industrial clusters.
Ike-Muonso said industrialisation needs steady policies that outlast election cycles, and called for closer work between federal and state governments.
