LAGOS — The political contest ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election has taken another turn after Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Peter Obi reignited the long-running dispute over the 2023 presidential election, insisting that he remains convinced he won the poll.
Obi made the declaration during an interview with Arise News, where he also criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies, questioned the use of funds generated after the removal of petrol subsidy and outlined what he said would be a radically different approach to governance if elected president in 2027.
His comments immediately drew a strong response from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency, which rejected his interpretation of the 2023 election and argued that the result had already been settled both electorally and judicially.
The renewed confrontation is significant because Obi is no longer contesting from the Labour Party platform on which he ran in 2023. He is now the presidential candidate of the NDC and is preparing for another presidential contest against incumbent Tinubu.
Obi: I won the 2023 election
Obi maintained that he won the 2023 presidential election, despite the official result declaring Tinubu the winner.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu of the APC winner with 8,794,726 votes, followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 6,984,520 votes. Obi, then representing the Labour Party, finished third with 6,101,533 votes.
Obi, however, argued that the official figures did not reflect what happened at the polling units and suggested that the electoral process experienced a significant breakdown.
“I did, and I will maintain that as long as I live that I won the 2023 election,” he said, arguing that those who conducted the election knew what happened.
The statement effectively reopens a political argument that has remained unresolved among Obi’s supporters even though the legal challenge to the election has already been concluded.
Supreme Court had affirmed Tinubu’s victory
Obi’s position comes despite the fact that Nigeria’s Supreme Court dismissed his challenge to the 2023 presidential election and affirmed Tinubu’s victory in October 2023.
Obi and Atiku had separately challenged the outcome after INEC declared Tinubu the winner. The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the petitions in September 2023 before the Supreme Court rejected the subsequent appeals in October.
The distinction is therefore important: Obi’s assertion that he won is a political claim and not the legal outcome of the 2023 election. The legally recognised result remains Tinubu’s victory.
That unresolved political disagreement is now being carried into the 2027 contest.
APC tells Obi to prepare for another election
The APC rejected Obi’s claim and questioned how he could describe himself as the winner when INEC’s official results placed him third.
APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda, through his media adviser Abimbola Tooki, argued that Obi’s claim lacked a basis in the declared results.
The ruling party also challenged Obi to explain why INEC did not declare him president if he had actually won the election.
The APC’s response reflects the broader strategy that is likely to define the 2027 campaign: portraying the Tinubu administration as the incumbent government whose mandate has already been legally validated, while casting Obi’s political narrative as an attempt to relitigate the previous election.
Presidency accuses Obi of political fantasy
The Presidency took an even more aggressive position.
Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, dismissed Obi’s continued insistence that he won the 2023 election, arguing that the Supreme Court’s judgment had brought the legal dispute to an end.
Dare also questioned Obi’s suggestion that he would decide whether to concede the 2027 election depending on whether the process was credible.
According to the Presidency, the authority to determine the winner rests with Nigerian voters through the electoral process, not with individual candidates.
The exchange illustrates how the 2027 presidential contest is increasingly becoming a battle not only over policy but also over competing interpretations of the 2023 election.
Obi shifts focus from subsidy removal to how savings are used
Beyond the electoral dispute, the most substantive part of Obi’s interview centred on the economy.
He criticised the Tinubu administration’s handling of the consequences of petrol subsidy removal and questioned whether Nigerians had received sufficient benefits from the resources freed by the reform.
Obi repeatedly referred to approximately N16 trillion in subsidy savings and challenged the government to demonstrate the impact of the money.
However, recent government figures provide important context to that argument.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele said in August 2026 that the removal of petrol subsidy mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025. He said N5.4 trillion accrued to the Federal Government, while N10.4 trillion was shared among states and local governments.
That disclosure means the debate is no longer simply about whether subsidy removal generated substantial savings. The increasingly important question is how those resources were distributed and what measurable outcomes Nigerians can point to as a result.
Obi’s criticism is focused precisely on that issue.
He argued that resources freed from subsidy should be channelled into productive sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, skills development and small businesses rather than being absorbed into wider government expenditure without sufficiently visible benefits.
Obi proposes targeted subsidies instead of petrol subsidy
Obi said he would not simply return Nigeria to the old subsidy system if elected.
Instead, he advocated targeted government support for productive sectors.
Using Indonesia as an example, he argued that government intervention should reduce the cost of productive economic activity, particularly for small businesses, rather than subsidising consumption indefinitely.
His proposed approach would include support for agriculture, manufacturing, small businesses and other sectors capable of generating employment and wealth.
The distinction could become an important policy issue during the 2027 campaign because opposition parties are likely to offer different approaches to the economic reforms introduced under Tinubu.
He promises four years of direct presidential accountability
Obi also rejected the argument that Nigeria requires more than one presidential term to achieve meaningful structural reform.
He said four years would be sufficient if a government establishes clear priorities, appoints competent officials and maintains discipline in implementation.
“I will not spend one extra day,” Obi said, insisting that he would not seek an additional day beyond his first term.
He also promised to personally take responsibility for government performance rather than allowing political intermediaries or unelected power brokers to speak or govern on his behalf.
That position fits into one of the central themes of Obi’s 2027 campaign: a more directly accountable presidency.
Infrastructure: repair before building new projects
On infrastructure, Obi said a government led by him would place greater emphasis on rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than continually announcing new projects.
He specifically argued that Nigeria should fix deteriorating roads and other public assets before embarking on additional construction.
The proposal reflects a broader argument about public spending: whether scarce resources should be directed toward new capital projects or toward maintaining infrastructure that Nigerians already depend on.
Obi proposes agriculture-led northern development
The NDC candidate also outlined a development strategy targeted at northern Nigeria.
He identified agriculture as one of the region’s greatest economic assets and proposed using government support to increase agricultural production, create employment and reduce poverty.
Obi also linked economic development to security, arguing that restoring industries in northern commercial centres such as Kano could provide employment opportunities and reduce the economic conditions that contribute to insecurity.
He said his administration would also invest in education, healthcare and skills development, including measures aimed at bringing vulnerable young people into productive economic activity.
On security, Obi rejects ransom payments
On insecurity, Obi took a firm position against paying ransom to kidnappers and other criminal groups.
He argued that Nigeria should instead strengthen intelligence capabilities, improve security personnel welfare and adopt a more decisive approach against organised criminal networks.
The proposal places economic development alongside security as a central component of his 2027 campaign message.
His argument is that security cannot be addressed solely through military operations if the economic conditions supporting criminal recruitment remain unresolved.
Obi says he will retain Tinubu’s naira floating policy
One of the more notable aspects of Obi’s economic position was his decision to endorse one of the major reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
Asked to identify a policy he would retain if elected, Obi pointed to the floating of the naira.
The Central Bank of Nigeria moved to unify the foreign exchange market in June 2023 through a willing-buyer, willing-seller framework. The reform was followed by a sharp depreciation of the naira as the market adjusted.
Obi said he would maintain the floating exchange-rate framework but argued that the government must improve productivity so that the policy ultimately translates into greater value for Nigerians.
His position suggests that a future Obi administration would not necessarily reverse every Tinubu economic reform, but would attempt to alter the underlying economic conditions around them.
Obi rules out personal negotiation over Atiku alliance
The 2027 opposition landscape has also changed substantially since the last presidential election.
Obi and Atiku were running mates in the 2019 election but became presidential rivals in 2023. The two again emerged as major figures in the opposition realignment ahead of 2027, although they ultimately ended up on different party platforms.
Obi has now emerged as the NDC presidential candidate, while Atiku is contesting under the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Current election reporting confirms that Obi’s political path for 2027 has moved away from the ADC coalition arrangement and toward the NDC platform.
Asked about reports that he could become Atiku’s running mate, Obi said no such offer had been made to him.
He argued that any future alliance should be negotiated between political parties rather than treated as a personal agreement between individual politicians.
The issue remains important because opposition fragmentation could influence the ability of any candidate to challenge Tinubu effectively.
Obi proposes independent election-result transmission system
Perhaps the most consequential electoral proposal from the interview was Obi’s plan for an independent parallel result-transmission system.
He said his political organisation would deploy technology to transmit polling-unit results in real time to a citizen-led central Situation Room.
The stated objective would be to allow supporters and observers to independently track results and compare them with officially announced figures.
The proposal is consistent with Obi’s repeated emphasis on electoral transparency. He has said he would accept defeat in 2027 if the election is free, fair and credible.
With the 2027 presidential election scheduled for January 16, 2027, electoral integrity is expected to remain one of the major campaign issues.
What the renewed clash means for 2027
The latest confrontation between Obi, the APC and the Presidency provides an early indication of how the 2027 campaign may unfold.
For the APC, the objective is likely to defend Tinubu’s record, emphasise the government’s economic reforms and remind voters that the incumbent’s 2023 mandate was affirmed by the courts.
For Obi, the strategy appears broader. He is combining his long-standing challenge to the 2023 result with a critique of the current administration’s economic management and a promise of a more disciplined, directly accountable government.
The economic argument could prove particularly important.
The Federal Government now says the petrol subsidy removal generated N15.8 trillion in resources between June 2023 and December 2025. The government has also provided a distribution of those resources, including funds that went to states and local governments.
That creates a clear political question for the 2027 election: have the reforms produced enough visible improvements in Nigerians’ lives to justify their social and economic costs?
Obi says they have not. The Tinubu administration and APC argue that the reforms were necessary to stabilise the country’s finances and create a stronger foundation for growth.
With the election approaching, voters will ultimately have to judge both arguments.
For now, however, one thing is clear: the dispute over 2023 has not disappeared. Obi is carrying his interpretation of that election into a new presidential race, while the APC and Presidency are preparing to make the 2023 result—and the Supreme Court’s confirmation of Tinubu’s victory—a central part of their defence of the incumbent.
The next stage of the contest will therefore be fought on two fronts: the unresolved political memory of 2023 and competing promises for Nigeria’s economic future in 2027.
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