Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the Southeast’s overwhelming support for Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election was driven by anger over years of marginalisation, but predicted the region would respond differently in 2027 because of President Bola Tinubu’s treatment of the region.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News Anchor Ojy Okpe, Umahi described the Southeast’s 2023 voting pattern as an “accident of history,” arguing that voters were expressing dissatisfaction with the region’s treatment under the previous administration.
“In 2023, it was an accident of history,” Umahi said. “It was a demonstration of the anger of the people of South East on how they were treated.”
The Works Minister said the region had legitimate reasons to feel aggrieved at the time, citing what he described as inadequate federal appointments and infrastructure.
“We’ve been marginalised in the past, but it’s no longer so,” he said.
Umahi argued that Tinubu had changed the political equation through increased federal infrastructure and appointments for the Southeast, predicting that voters would acknowledge that treatment when they return to the polls in 2027.
“If in 2023 they demonstrated their anger, in 2027 they are going to demonstrate their joy on how the President has treated them,” he said.
Umahi maintained that the Southeast would “pay the President” for what he described as Tinubu’s commitment to the region, particularly through major infrastructure projects.
He pointed to ongoing federal road projects and other investments as evidence that the region had received greater attention under the current administration.
The minister also argued that the political environment had changed significantly since 2023, saying serving governors, former governors, traditional rulers and other influential figures across the Southeast were increasingly aligned with Tinubu.
He said voters would be reluctant to abandon what he described as tangible infrastructure gains in favour of another political “gamble.”
Umahi rejected suggestions that support for Tinubu amounted to a betrayal of the Southeast or Peter Obi, arguing that the region’s political interests should not be tied permanently to one candidate.
He also criticised social media supporters who insult Southeast political leaders for backing Tinubu rather than Obi, saying such attacks were counterproductive.
According to Umahi, ethnic and regional antagonism would not advance Obi’s political interests or those of the Southeast.
The minister said the region’s long-term political interests required engagement and negotiation with other parts of Nigeria, particularly if the Southeast hoped eventually to produce a president.
He maintained that Tinubu’s record in the region would ultimately determine the 2027 vote rather than the voting pattern recorded four years earlier.
Asked whether he believed Tinubu would defeat Obi in the Southeast in 2027, Umahi was emphatic.
“Why do you say I believe?” he responded. “That is what is going to happen!”
Umahi said the Southeast would not repeat its 2023 electoral choice because, in his assessment, the circumstances that produced that result had fundamentally changed.
Demola Ojo
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