Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, says the coalition with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is facing setbacks due to unresolved disagreements over zoning and the rotation of key political offices.

Obi, who made the remarks during a YouTube interview with ‘Advocacy for Good Governance’ on Wednesday, emphasised the need for clarity and consensus within the alliance.

The former Anambra State governor, who insisted that he remains a member of the LP, stressed that the coalition must settle internal disagreements and align on a common vision for Nigeria.

Obi said, “Today, I’m a member of the Labour Party, and I subscribe to the coalition, ADC Coalition for the 2027 election. I believe in it. But as much as I believe in it, I need to know the fundamentals that we all agree to respect. What are we going to do for the average Nigerian person? Because we are not different people. We are still part of the political class. So it’s not as if they were a bunch of new people.

“Yes, I respect all those who are leaders there. Of course, our Chairman, David Mark, is one of those people I respect, and I believe he has the political sagacity to lead the party. And so are so many others we have there, people like my own leader, Atiku, somebody for whom I have all my respect and believe in the good of Nigeria. But in all this, there are still some fine lines that we need to respect, where things must be done properly, where we must sit down and talk about where we’re driving the country to. Because, like I said, we are not new people; we’re the same political class. So we must come with new ideas that Nigerians will trust.

“We must come with new things, new perspectives, and we must try to see how we can give Nigeria the alternative that will come with competence, character, capacity, commitment, and compassion to drive this new vehicle, because it’s important.

“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, we don’t like what these people are doing. Let them go.’ If they go, what is the alternative? We’ve done that in 2015: ‘Let this man just go,’ and he went.

“So we now have to be clear. What are we getting? Can we trust those who are going to drive this vehicle and do what they’re saying? Where have they said it before?

“It all depends. I am not desperate to become the president of Nigeria. I’m desperate to see Nigeria work. I want to see what it is that they are offering. Today, we have what we can call unsigned agreements about the presidency, about rotation of offices. This is why this person will come from here, this person will come from there. All these things need to be organised. The reason why it needs to be organised is that you don’t need to create confusion for the future.

“Today, it’s about the future. So if we’re going to do anything, let’s look at the future. Let’s not look at what is going to benefit us.

“Even if it takes us one week to agree, we do. If Nigerians want this country to change, we can make a change. It doesn’t matter how. Even if we start three months, six months, eight months, or one year before the election, we can still prepare.”