Peter Obi Will Be ‘Tinubu’s Mole’ If He Dumps ADC Over Presidential Ticket — Okonkwo Warns

ADC chieftain and actor-turned-politician Kenneth Okonkwo has issued a stark warning to former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi: if you leave the ADC coalition because you didn’t get the presidential ticket, you will be labelled a mole working for President Tinubu’s re-election.

Speaking during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, Okonkwo was asked about growing speculation that Obi might quit the ADC if he fails to secure the party’s presidential ticket for 2027. His response was uncompromising.

Okonkwo’s Argument

“If he leaves, will he now be a mobile squatter? Any presidential aspirant in ADC, seeing what everybody is going through, and leaves ADC for another party — one, he is a mobile squatter, and two, he is working for Tinubu,” Okonkwo declared. “Anybody that goes out of the coalition is compromised and is working for Tinubu. Whoever that person is.”

The logic is simple, if blunt: the entire purpose of the ADC coalition is to present a united opposition front against the APC. Any candidate who walks away because they lost the internal contest fractures that front and — intentionally or not — helps Tinubu. In Okonkwo’s framing, there is no neutral exit. You are either in the coalition or you are against it.

The Obi Problem

Peter Obi is the coalition’s most popular figure — at least based on social media metrics and the momentum of his 2023 presidential run. But popularity does not equal a guaranteed ticket. Atiku Abubakar has declared 2027 his “last attempt” and is the party’s most experienced presidential contender. The internal contest between Atiku’s experience and Obi’s grassroots appeal is the ADC’s defining tension.

If Obi loses the ticket to Atiku and stays, he risks being overshadowed. If he leaves, Okonkwo’s warning kicks in — and the “Obidient” movement may find itself without a political home for the second consecutive election cycle. The 2023 experience, where Obi ran under Labour Party and finished third, suggests that going solo is a risky strategy against a well-funded incumbent.

The Bigger Picture

Okonkwo’s warning reflects a deeper anxiety within the opposition: the fear that the coalition will eat itself before it ever faces the APC. History is not encouraging. Nigeria’s opposition coalitions have a habit of collapsing under the weight of individual ambitions — AC, CPC, ANPP merging into APC in 2013 is the exception, not the rule. The ADC coalition is already showing cracks. Whether those cracks become a rupture depends on how the presidential ticket is resolved — and whether the losers can stomach staying in a party they don’t control.

Sources: NaijaNews, Channels TV, Daily Trust