, Segun Sowunmi, has called on his party to explore all viable avenues to){kind=link}
A prominent chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Sowunmi, has called on his party to explore all viable avenues to reconcile with and possibly reintegrate Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, back into the PDP fold. Sowunmi made this recommendation during a televised interview on Politics Today, a current affairs programme aired on Channels Television, on Friday.
Sowunmi emphasized that Peter Obi, who was previously a member of the PDP before defecting to the Labour Party in the lead-up to the 2023 elections, remains a politically significant figure—particularly among the youth and in the South-East region. He noted that Obi garnered over 6.2 million votes during the election, despite the structural disadvantages his party faced, underscoring the organic and grassroots nature of his support base.
“One of the people who was a PDP member, a South-Eastern man who felt, based on the balance of play, that the South-East was excluded, Peter Obi, was allocated 6.2 million votes,” Sowunmi said. “You lose the election, you run to the Supreme Court, you lose—at least you were adjudged to have lost.”
He argued that a rational and strategically minded PDP should now recognize the need to have serious conversations around bridging the gap with Obi, especially given the passionate support he continues to command. According to Sowunmi, the PDP should not ignore the organic momentum behind Obi’s political brand, and should rather consider how best to bring him back into the party’s fold as part of a broader strategy for political revitalization.
“Any deep-thinking, fair-minded Nigerian man who is in the political party called the PDP ought to know that the greatest, necessary next step is to have the conversation about: ‘How do you bring Peter back?’ now that the energy driving him is organic,” he added.
Sowunmi also touched on the broader challenges facing the PDP, noting that many of the internal issues and the wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are self-inflicted. He criticized the party’s failure to resolve internal crises effectively and maintain strategic coherence.
“There is a level of activity that you can blame your bullies for, but there is a certain level of recurring, continuous lack of creativity that you have to hold yourself responsible for,” he said, highlighting the PDP’s repeated strategic missteps and inability to adapt to the evolving political landscape.
In a pointed observation, Sowunmi remarked on how many in the opposition underestimate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, misjudging him based on physical appearance rather than political acumen.
“One of the things that people do is fall prey to the frail nature of President Bola Tinubu. I know him for his intellectual capacity. He will look frail, but his brain is that of a giant, so most people underestimate him to their peril,” he warned.
He concluded by criticizing what he sees as complacency or delusion within the PDP, warning that many of his colleagues wrongly assume that defeating Tinubu in future elections will be easy. “The painful thing is that my side is choosing to pretend that it is an easy material to defeat in politics. What do they know that he doesn’t know?” he questioned.
Sowunmi’s remarks underscore a broader call for introspection, strategic realignment, and reconciliation within the PDP as it faces increasing internal challenges and seeks to mount a credible opposition to the APC in future elections.