Political economist Prof. Pat Utomi has stated that if the former Anambra State governor decides to run as someone’s vice-presidential candidate, he will immediately stop supporting him.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Prof. Utomi assured that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party will contest for the presidency in 2027, following his formal defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Wednesday.

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His comments came in response to Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo’s claim that Obi had already accepted to run as Atiku Abubakar’s vice-presidential candidate under the ADC ticket in 2027—a claim Utomi strongly dismissed.

“I can tell you that Peter Obi will contest for the presidency. The day he becomes somebody’s vice president, I walk away from his corner. I can tell you that for a fact,” Prof. Utomi said on the programme.

In the same interview, Prof. Utomi also made a case for limiting presidential and gubernatorial candidates to Nigerians aged 70 and below.

He lamented that the Nigerian presidency has increasingly become a “retirement home,” criticising both former President Muhammadu Buhari’s and President Bola Tinubu’s administrations as “government in absentia.”

“Something important about this election to bear in mind is that the Nigerian presidency has become a retirement home where people go for the Nigerian state to pay their medical bills. It is not acceptable. They don’t have the fitness to run the country. The last one, and the current one, have essentially been government-in-absentia leaders.”

“I, Pat Utomi, am insisting that I will canvass to the Nigerian people that nobody over the age of 70 should run for an executive position, whether it be governor or president,” he concluded.

‘Rescue journey’

Peter Obi, who came third in the last presidential election with over 6 million votes, officially announced his defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Enugu on Wednesday.

In his speech at the event, Obi said his move to the ADC marked the beginning of a journey to rescue the country from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Today is an important day; today is the last day of 2025, so we are ending this year with the hope that, in 2026, we will begin a journey to rescue our country and set it on the path of proper socio-economic development that will be unifying and inclusive,” Obi stated.

He continued: “We have all watched as those who benefited from our democracy have, over time, become accessories to destroying it—either through coercion or gangsterism against the opposition. We cannot allow this to happen; we will resist it.” (Channels)