Former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State and ex-Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi, has dismissed the chances of Labour Party’s Peter Obi posing any serious challenge to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Senator Olujimi said the appeal and eloquence that helped Obi in the 2023 presidential election will not be enough in the next cycle.
“The rhetoric of the last election will not work again, except he comes with another gimmick. And you see, this (Tinubu) is a politician, a man who knows the terrain well,” she stated.
Olujimi, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), also hailed Tinubu’s deep-rooted political experience, describing him as a formidable figure.
“This is the first time we are having a dyed-in-the-wool politician as president. He knows his onions; he knows all of us. He has been in the system for very long. It’s tough,” she said.
“This is a man who has worked with everyone, who has been useful to everyone, who has had opportunities to assist governments. Beating him? Uphill task.”
Explaining her defection to the ruling APC, the senator said she was swayed by the decisiveness and pragmatism of President Tinubu’s administration.
“The APC we talked about in the past, the government that was in power then, is not the current one in power. There is a different APC now,” she said.
“This government is pragmatic. It’s resolute, it’s taking tough decisions and running with the decisions. It’s not like other governments, taking tough decisions and when people start to complain, dropping it and making them comfortable again, going back to the old ways.”
Olujimi admitted that while it may seem unfair for her to leave the PDP—a party that gave her political prominence—she felt it had lost momentum and public trust.
“My people at the grassroots are happy I left the PDP,” she said.
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