Former members of Peter Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign council have backed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, announcing they have adopted the All Progressives Congress (APC) as their political platform.
The group, operating under the name Batified Obidients, said it made the decision after assessing the 2023 presidential campaign, the Tinubu administration’s performance, and what it described as the need to sustain ongoing economic and institutional reforms.
At an international press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the group’s National Coordinator, Adesina Fagbenro-Byron, said its members had resolved to support Tinubu for a second term, despite having previously worked to secure victory for Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
Fagbenro-Byron, a former member of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, said the group’s decision reflected its belief that Tinubu and the APC offered a more viable platform for sustainable development and good governance.
He said, “Today, we have made our choice. Let there be no ambiguity. We are coming together again.
“We are former Labour Party and Obidient supporters. We are now shifting our support to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and adopting the All Progressives Congress, the APC, as our political vehicle for 2027, under the name Batified Obidients.”
The group also endorsed Vice-President Kashim Shettima, saying its support for Tinubu’s re-election naturally extended to his running mate.
Fagbenro-Byron said the endorsement was not made lightly but followed what he described as an assessment of the country’s political and economic direction since the 2023 general election.
“We do not make this choice lightly. We make it because of our common goal: good governance and sustainable development for Nigeria,” he said.
“We believe that, at this moment in our national journey, President Tinubu and the APC offer the most credible direction, the most tested resolve, and the most viable platform to continue the work of rebuilding Nigeria.”
Explaining the group’s decision to withdraw its support for Obi, Fagbenro-Byron said its members had identified weaknesses in the management of the 2023 presidential campaign, particularly in the handling of talent, diversity and internal disagreements.
He said the experience raised questions about the former Anambra State governor’s capacity to manage a country as complex as Nigeria.
According to him, members of the campaign council invested their time, professional expertise, and resources in Obi’s presidential ambition because they believed he offered an opportunity to depart from the established political order.
However, he said their experience within the campaign had changed their assessment.
“After months of honest reflection on what we witnessed from inside the campaign, the truth became impossible to ignore. We saw real weaknesses in how talent was mismanaged, how diversity was mishandled, and how internal conflicts went unresolved,” he said.
Fagbenro-Byron added that some professionals who volunteered their expertise were neither adequately recognised nor effectively deployed.
“Looking back with clear eyes, we have come to see that the demands of leading a country as complex and demanding as Nigeria may have been beyond what Mr Peter Obi was prepared for,” he said.
He, however, acknowledged that the former presidential candidate had made efforts, noting that the group’s criticism was based on its experience working within the campaign.
“This is not to say he did not try, or that his intentions were not sincere. But it became clear to those of us inside the campaign that he was, in many ways, out of his depth without fully realising it,” he added.
The coordinator said the group believed that the campaign’s pool of professional volunteers could have been better utilised.
He said: “We gave him the opportunity. We gave him the encouragement. Some of us provided the resources. What we could not give him was the capacity he did not have.”
The group stressed that its position should not be taken as speaking for all Nigerians who supported Obi in 2023, acknowledging that many former supporters have remained loyal to him or moved to other political parties.
“We do not claim to speak for every Nigerian who once supported Mr Obi or the Labour Party. We respect those who remain with him, and those who have gone elsewhere,” Fagbenro-Byron said.
Former Obi campaign officials said they backed Tinubu partly based on their assessment of the administration’s economic reforms, which they acknowledged had imposed considerable hardship on Nigerians.
Fagbenro-Byron admitted that rising living costs, hunger, insecurity, and inadequate access to essential public services remained major challenges confronting the country.
He said the group was not oblivious to the difficulties households have experienced since the administration introduced its reforms.
“Hunger is real. The cost of living has bitten hard. Families are struggling to put food on the table. Primary healthcare and schools still need serious attention. Terrorism and insecurity are a grave cause for concern. Corruption has not vanished,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the number of out-of-school children, describing the situation as a crisis that threatens the country’s future.
Despite these challenges, he argued that the administration had set a direction that the group believed should be sustained.
According to him, the removal of the petrol subsidy, increased allocations to states and local governments, changes in electricity regulation, local fertiliser production, and the implementation of student loan programmes were among the developments the group considered significant.
He said the reforms were not yet complete but argued they could lay the foundation for a more productive economy.
“These are not finished victories. They are the foundations of a country that can produce more of what it needs instead of living forever on imports and artificial prices,” he said.
The group also cited the Supreme Court’s affirmation of local government financial autonomy and the Electricity Act’s provision for states to develop their own electricity markets as measures it believed could strengthen governance and economic development.
Fagbenro-Byron said the group was particularly interested in seeing major infrastructure projects completed and the solid minerals sector developed.
He expressed confidence that more time would allow the administration to demonstrate the full benefits of its policies.
“We sincerely believe that a little more time is all it takes for these efforts to show their full value,” he said.
As part of its strategy for the 2027 election, Batified Obidients said it would mobilise former campaign associates, undecided voters, and other Nigerians who support its vision for governance.
Fagbenro-Byron said the group intended to organise nationwide, register members, participate in political activities, and campaign for Tinubu and the APC.
He said the movement would focus on states where opposition candidates defeated Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
“We will mobilise our former colleagues, undecided voters, and other Nigerians who desire competent and inclusive governance,” he said.
“We will work to grow the support President Tinubu received in 2023, with special attention to states where his opposition won.”
The group also pledged to work with other APC support organisations and groups aligned with the President’s re-election campaign.
It said its objective was to build a broader political coalition capable of attracting Nigerians previously associated with opposition parties.
Fagbenro-Byron acknowledged that not all former Obidient supporters would join the movement, noting that some had moved to the African Democratic Congress, others to the Nigeria Democratic Congress, while some remained in the Labour Party.
He said the group respected their political choices but was confident many would embrace its new direction.
“We are not here to diminish any other party. We are here to build a broad coalition for good governance and sustainable development on the platform of the APC,” he said.
The coordinator said the group’s name reflected its commitment to good governance while supporting Tinubu’s political platform.
According to him, the name does not reject its past but redirects the political energy and experience of its members towards what they consider a more viable path for Nigeria.
“Our name is deliberate. We do not deny our history. But we remain Obidient to the hunger for good governance. We are Batified in our recognition of competence, courage, and the direction needed to rebuild Nigeria,” he said.
He added, “We do not deny our past. We are moving forward with it. Our loyalty is to Nigeria first.”
The group maintained that Nigeria’s challenges predated the 2023 election and could not be resolved through a single electoral contest.
It argued that the country needed to shift from a consumption-driven economy to a production-based one, while strengthening accountability at all levels of government.
Beyond endorsing Tinubu, Batified Obidients called on federal, state, and local governments to establish a credible social register across all local government areas to improve the delivery of social intervention programmes.
Fagbenro-Byron said a reliable register would help ensure that government assistance reached vulnerable Nigerians who needed it most.
The group also urged Nigerians to weigh the economic reforms against the challenges of the previous policy framework, arguing that subsidising petrol and relying on monetary expansion had failed to provide a sustainable solution to the country’s economic difficulties.
It posed questions about whether retaining the fuel subsidy, continuing to finance government spending through money creation and maintaining the previous electricity regulatory framework would have produced better outcomes.
The group said the current hardship should not be dismissed, but argued that returning to the previous system would postpone, not resolve, structural problems.
“The pain today is real. But the old road was not better. It was only hiding the problem and leading us deeper into perdition,” Fagbenro-Byron said.
“This new road is hard now, but it can build a stronger and more lasting Nigeria.”
The group declared its commitment to supporting the APC and Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, saying its mission is to promote continuity in the administration’s reform agenda.
Its endorsement marks a political realignment among members who previously worked within Obi’s 2023 campaign structure, although it remains to be seen how much the new movement can transfer that experience and former political support to the APC.
