Southeast voted Peter Obi in 2023 but will reward Tinubu in 2027 — Umahi
Nigeria's Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the Southeast's overwhelming support for Peter Obi in the 2023 The post Southeast voted Peter Obi in 2023 but will reward Tinubu in 2027 — Umahi appeared first on…
David Umahi, a former two-term governor of Ebonyi State, serves as Nigeria's Minister of Works under President Bola Tinubu and is one of the most prominent Southeast politicians within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The Southeast geopolitical zone has historically leaned toward opposition parties in presidential contests, and in 2023 the region voted overwhelmingly for Labour Party's Peter Obi, an Igbo former governor of Anambra State, a trend widely attributed to longstanding grievances over the zone's political marginalisation and exclusion from the presidency since Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999.
Umahi's remarks touch on recurring and sensitive debates: whether the Southeast's 2023 vote was a protest against marginalisation rather than full endorsement of Obi's candidacy, and whether the zone could shift allegiance to Tinubu ahead of 2027 in exchange for infrastructure projects such as the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, which Umahi has championed as a flagship federal works initiative. His comments also wade into his ongoing dispute with Landmark Group over property along the Lagos coastline tied to the highway project. The coverage varies in emphasis — Tribune Online focuses on the Obi-to-Tinubu prediction, while ThisDay provides broader detail on Umahi's claims about Obi's suitability, the cost comparisons for the coastal highway, and the Landmark land dispute — though neither outlet's excerpt specifies what concrete gains Umahi believes would secure the Southeast's support for Tinubu.