Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, says he is not certain whether he will support Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the next general elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Lawal — who openly backed Obi during the 2023 race — said political realities have shifted since the last polls.
“They say a day in politics is long. Things have changed. The parameters we used to evaluate our candidate in 2023 are going to be different this time,” he said. “Things have moved on, so we’ll see when we get there.”
Despite his uncertainty, the former SGF maintained that Obi was the “true winner” of the 2023 presidential election.
On the political mood in the North ahead of 2027, Lawal stressed the need for the region to rally behind a leader who understands its challenges and is willing to address them.
He revealed that northern politicians outside of government have formed the Nigerian People’s Consultative Political Forum (North) — a platform bringing together key northern figures to promote unity and overcome internal divisions.
“There is disunity among us, and we analyse what this disunity means, what causes it, and how we can ameliorate it,” Lawal explained. “We agreed that we must vote as a bloc. If we don’t, we will not achieve our goals.”
Lawal said the forum has resolved to support only a candidate — northerner or southerner — who fully grasps and is committed to solving the North’s problems.
“Eventually, we just decided that we can only pursue this if we are in one solid political party. And we all agree this solid political party can only be the ADC,” he added.
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