Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has disclosed that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar once asked him to persuade Peter Obi to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and accept the position of his running mate ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Lawal made the disclosure while recounting the events surrounding negotiations among opposition figures before the political alliance eventually split into different camps.
According to the former SGF, Atiku personally contacted him and gave him the task of approaching Obi with the proposal.
“Atiku called me and told me that he wanted to work with me. He gave me a mission to convince Peter Obi to join the ADC and serve as his vice president,” Lawal said.
Lawal said the proposal allegedly went beyond Obi simply serving as vice-president.
He claimed Atiku proposed that the two would serve together for four years and then pursue an amendment to the Constitution establishing a single six-year presidential term.
According to Lawal, the arrangement would have allowed Obi to benefit from the proposed constitutional change.
“He explained that during their four-year term, they would amend the Constitution to a single six-year term, which Obi would benefit from. I went to Obi with this proposal, but Peter Obi said he was not interested,” he said.
Lawal also recalled travelling to meet Obi despite heavy rain to deliver the proposal, saying Obi indicated that he did not particularly like the idea.
However, Obi has disputed the account that he was offered the vice-presidential position and subsequently rejected it.
In a September 2026 interview with Arise TV, the former Anambra State governor said he could not have rejected an offer that was never formally presented to him.
“I don’t know where that was said. I wasn’t even in a position where that was being offered, and I refused,” Obi said, according to reports on his response.
Obi also said that discussions about any opposition alliance should take place at the party level rather than being reduced to negotiations between individual politicians.
The disclosure comes against the background of the opposition realignment ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku, Obi and other opposition figures were initially involved in efforts to build a common political platform under the ADC. The arrangement later broke down, with Atiku emerging as the ADC's presidential candidate while Obi moved to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Lawal himself left the ADC in June 2026 after alleging irregularities in the party's presidential primary. Atiku's camp rejected his allegations. Lawal subsequently joined the NDC and has publicly backed the Obi-Kwankwaso presidential ticket.
The former SGF's latest account therefore offers his version of the negotiations that took place during the opposition coalition talks, while Obi's public response presents a conflicting account of whether a formal vice-presidential offer was ever made to him.
Neither Lawal's account of Atiku's alleged proposal nor the reported constitutional plan should be treated as an established agreement between the politicians without further documentary evidence or confirmation from the other parties involved.
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