Uche Diala: “Obi Chose ADC Voluntarily, No One Was About to Use Him”

 

Abuja, Nigeria – 2026

Political commentator Uche Diala has responded to criticisms that the African Democratic Congress, ADC, would have “used” Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, had he remained in the party. 

The reply, titled #RightOfReply, was posted in response to a comment by Okeh Onyekachi Chukwuemeka, who said: “It would have been generationally wrong for ADC to have used Mr. Peter Obi the way you all were about to use him.”

“He joined ADC on his own volition”

Diala said he was directly involved in Obi’s move to the ADC and dismissed claims of coercion. 

“No one forced Peter Obi into the ADC. He came on his own volition. I was involved and I know,” he stated. 

According to Diala, Obi was aware of two key party positions before joining: the ADC would not zone its presidential ticket, and all aspirants would support whoever emerged from the primaries. “Peter Obi himself agreed to that,” he said.

Membership numbers and direct primaries

Diala argued that party structure, not manipulation, would have determined the outcome of an ADC presidential primary. The party, he said, adopted direct primaries open to registered members, not delegates. 

He claimed that Adamawa and Kaduna States recorded the highest ADC membership registrations nationwide, with the North having the largest overall number. “That was a result of diligent hard work by people who are serious minded and who understand what politics entails – NUMBERS,” he said.

Based on that spread, Diala maintained that Obi “knew, based on the number and spread of registered ADC members, that there was no way he could win by Direct Primaries.” He added that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar “won’t have” lost the primary among the declared candidates.

“Only a politically naive person won’t have seen that,” Diala wrote, adding that Obi’s exit was “smart” but not evidence that “the system was programmed against him.”

On Obi’s reasons for leaving and party-hopping

Diala referenced Obi’s stated reason for quitting the ADC – alleged external court interference affecting both ADC and Labour Party. He questioned whether Obi believed the New Nigeria People’s Democratic Coalition, NDC, would be immune to similar challenges. 

“Who told him that those same challenges won’t eventually show up in the NDC? Where are we today?” he asked, adding that “leaders don’t run away from challenges.”

He further accused Obi of seeking to “use the ADC and every other person in ADC… to achieve his personal ambition of becoming president,” and questioned why Obi did not form his own party if he wanted an uncontested ticket.

VP argument and South-East politics  

Diala criticized the “President or nothing” stance, calling it “selfish and unrealistic” and “a disservice to the SE and Ndi Igbo.” He said Obi would have faced no contest for the ADC vice-presidential slot had he run and lost the presidential primary. 

From a national and regional standpoint, Diala argued that an Igbo vice president would be a strategic gain. “The last time a Nigerian of Igbo extraction was near power was in 1979-83 with Chief Alex Ekwueme as Vice President,” he noted, citing an Igbo proverb on accepting partial gains. 

He said Obi’s decision to reject a repeat VP pairing with Atiku in 2023 cost him an opportunity, claiming that ticket would have won and “we might have been having an entirely different and a more realistic conversation today, probably about Presidency.”

2027 outlook

On current legal disputes involving the NDC, Diala said “the current shenanigans over the NDC by the courts will not stand in the end,” but maintained it would not alter the electoral math. He described a potential Obi-Kwankwaso alliance as a “marriage of (in)convenience” that “will not make any significant impact” and could benefit the incumbent and an Atiku-led ADC ticket. 

“2027 won’t be 2023,” he concluded, saying he was stating “practical political truth” rather than seeking to “comfort or make anyone happy with lies.”

Context

Peter Obi was the Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023 and previously served as VP candidate to Atiku Abubakar on the PDP ticket in 2019. He later joined the ADC before moving to the NDC ahead of the 2027 election cycle. The ADC and NDC have both faced internal and legal challenges in recent months.

This report is based on Uche Diala’s public statement. Efforts to reach Mr. Obi’s camp for comment were not successful as of press time.