Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has said opposition leaders will work with whoever Nigerians elect president in a free, fair and credible election in 2027, declaring that individual ambitions must not stand in the way of efforts to rescue the country.

Obi, who publicly declared his Allied Peoples Movement (APM) counterpart and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, qualified to be president, said opposition candidates were not desperate for power and should allow Nigerians to freely decide who leads them.

Bauchi State Governor and National Leader of APM, Bala Mohammed, also described the 2027 election as an opportunity for Nigerians to build a new country, saying Makinde had demonstrated the leadership capacity required to “reset Nigeria.”

They spoke in Abuja, yesterday, at the commissioning of Makinde’s presidential campaign headquarters, where APM leaders formally stepped up mobilisation for the Makinde/Daura ticket.

Obi’s presence at the event provided an unusual show of solidarity between two presidential candidates competing for the same office, amid concerns that a fragmented opposition could strengthen President Bola Tinubu’s chances of securing a second term.

“We have a candidate who is contesting the presidency today: my dear brother Seyi Makinde. Is he qualified to be president? Yes.

“What we are doing today is to show you that, for us, we don’t have desperation. We want the people of Nigeria to make their choice. Whoever they choose, all of us will come together to build a new Nigeria,” Obi said. Obi said Nigeria’s worsening economic and security challenges demanded a different kind of politics in which the interests of citizens took precedence over the ambitions of politicians.

“We can’t all continue the way we are going today. Our people are hungry. Our people are poor. Our people are insecure.

“Whoever wins, genuinely, from a free, fair and credible election, we all want to work together to save this country from collapse,” he said.

Obi and Makinde are among opposition candidates seeking to unseat Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, is contesting on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Against the backdrop of concerns that a divided opposition could work in favour of the incumbent, Obi maintained that political competition should not degenerate into hostility among those seeking change.

“We don’t want politics of quarrel, politics of disagreement. Let our quarrel be to feed our people. Let our quarrel be to pull our people out of poverty,” he said.

The former Anambra State governor said the objective should be to build a country where background, privilege and connections no longer determine how far a citizen can go.

“We want a Nigeria where a child of nobody can be somebody without knowing anybody. That’s what we want. And all of us will work as a family. I assure you that we remain united in our rescue for our dear country, Nigeria,” Obi said.

Makinde, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that his presidential ambition should not be taken seriously, recalling that similar predictions were made before he became governor of Oyo State.

“When I first asked the people of Oyo State to entrust me with the responsibility of serving them, many people said I did not stand a chance. They looked at the established political forces, looked at me, and concluded that I could not win. But the people of Oyo State had other ideas,” he said.

The APM candidate said those dismissing his presidential bid were also discounting the hopes of millions of Nigerians dissatisfied with the country’s direction.

So, when they say today that this campaign does not count, I do not take it personally. What they are really saying is that the hopes of millions of Nigerians do not count.

“They are saying that the market woman struggling with rising prices does not count. That the young person searching for an opportunity does not count. That the farmer, the worker, the small-business owner and every Nigerian who believes this country can be better do not count,” he said.

Makinde declared that his “Reset Nigeria” campaign would take its message beyond politicians to homes, markets, schools, offices, farms, factories and communities.

“But we count. Our voices count. Our experiences count. Our ideas count. And, together, our votes will count,” he said.

The Oyo governor also restated his demand for transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s resources, insisting that increases in national wealth must be reflected in the living conditions of citizens.

Returning briefly to the ongoing fuel subsidy and petrol-pricing debate, Makinde clarified that he was not advocating a return to the old subsidy regime.

Rather, he said Nigeria’s status as an oil producer should confer tangible benefits on citizens through the price at which crude is supplied for domestic refining and greater transparency across the petroleum value chain.

“Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians,” he said.

Makinde said Nigerians should be able to see how the final pump price of petrol is determined, including production, refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins.

“When Nigeria’s wealth grows, the lives of Nigerians must also improve,” he said.

Mohammed, in his remarks, said the APM offered Nigerians an opportunity to chart a new direction in 2027, describing Makinde as an administrator who had demonstrated his capacity through his stewardship of Oyo State.

“Our motto is Nigeria First. And Nigeria is what is in our mind. I want to tell Nigerians that this is an opportunity to build a new Nigeria, where everybody, man or woman, young or old, will have the opportunity to actualise his or her aspirations,” the Bauchi governor said.

He expressed confidence that Makinde could replicate at the federal level what he described as the progress recorded in Oyo and deliver the party’s promise to “reset Nigeria.”

APM National Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, described the opening of the campaign headquarters as the formal beginning of the party’s journey towards the 2027 presidential election.

“The future starts today. There is no going back in our collective quest to choose a new path forward together. It is a new dawn in our democratic governance,” he said.

Dantalle said the party was presenting itself as a viable alternative anchored on “integrity, sacrifice and service to the people.”

He described the Makinde/Daura ticket as offering hope to Nigerians seeking improved security, economic prosperity, good governance and national cohesion.

“The road ahead is not easy; however, there is light at the end of our democratic tunnel. A brighter, more prosperous and more secured nation awaits us in the Allied Peoples Movement-led Federal Government,” he said. (The Sun)