The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan offered Peter Obi a slot as Coordinating Minister of the Economy to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race.

Kachikwu alleged that the Northern political interests drafted Jonathan into the 2027 presidential race to weaken the South.

According to Kachikwu, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate was told that he cannot get Northern votes.

Kachikwu said Obi was told Northerners would not vote for him because he is an Ibo man.

As reported by Leadership, Kachikwu stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, August 8, 2025.

“In order to weaken the South, they have now drafted in former President Jonathan into the race, who is alleged to be offering Peter Obi the position of Coordinating Minister of the Economy for him to support his ambition.”

He alleged that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a few northern elites tell poor Northerners that a southern President hates them and is the cause of their poverty.

Kachikwu accused the northern elites of using the “weapons of region, religion, tongue, tribe, and poverty” to deceive millions of poor in the region.

“On a daily basis, they are spreading deliberate falsehoods against not only President Tinubu but against all potential southern aspirants for the Office of President. A Peter Obi has been told in very clear terms that he will never get northern votes as an Igbo man, and as such, he should accept to be Atiku’s running mate.”