Obi is out to persuade Nigerians that his candidacy represents a credible and inclusive national project, argues KALU OKORONKWO
By the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and in accordance with the Electoral Act, the official campaign period for the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections commenced on August 19, 2026. Two days later, Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), formally flagged off his campaign at a world press conference, anchored on a simple but ambitious conviction: “Nigeria can work, and Nigeria must work.”
The statement, though simple, captures the central proposition of Obi’s 2027 campaign. Nigeria, he argues, is not condemned to perpetual crisis. Its enormous human and material resources can be converted into security, productivity and shared prosperity if managed with competence, discipline and purpose.
For Obi, therefore, the challenge in 2027 is not merely to establish himself as an alternative to Nigeria’s traditional political establishment, but to persuade Nigerians that his candidacy represents a credible and inclusive national project of transformation and rebirth. This may ultimately determine the significance of the Obi-Kwankwaso proposition in 2027.
