Peter Obi, the Coalition Trap, and the Price of Political Naivety. By Meche Oswald

By every measure, Atiku Abubakar has achieved his core objective. The so-called “Coalition” was never a sincere, people-centered movement. It was a cleverly orchestrated political ambush designed to elevate his own dwindling political brand through the borrowed face of Peter Obi. Let it be said without ambiguity, Peter Obi is being used. Not as a partner. Not as an equal. But as a convenient image to rebrand Atiku in a political market hungry for change. Today, what we see is the unveiling of a brutal strategy,  the systematic collapse of PDP northern structures into ADC, controlled wholly and ruthlessly by Atiku’s loyalists.

From Benue to Jigawa, Gombe to Adamawa, the dominoes are falling. Not for national redemption, but for one man’s insatiable hunger for relevance. Atiku is not just flexing his political muscle. He is waging a cold war against Nyesom Wike, consolidating power, and declaring loudly that the North is his. PDP in the North is dead, and Atiku owns its carcass.

This is not a coalition. This is a political laundering machine, and Peter Obi, sadly, is the detergent being used to make a stained political relic look fresh again.

But how did it get to this point?

Peter Obi, hailed as the moral compass of Nigerian politics, walked into a trap so delicately laid he didn’t even see the walls closing in. The bait was inclusion. National reach. Relevance. But the cost was his credibility. His moral high ground. The very essence of his 2023 movement.

What he failed to realize, or perhaps underestimated, is that coalitions without clarity breed confusion. And confusion is the soil where betrayal flourishes.

Peter Obi is the public face of ADC, but he is not the soul of this coalition. That throne belongs to Atiku, the old fox of Nigeria’s power game. He acquired control of ADC, installed his loyalists, and is weaponizing the coalition not for nation-building but for self-resurrection. The coalition is Atiku’s Trojan horse, and Peter Obi is the well-decorated gift wheeled into the hearts of frustrated Nigerians.

Atiku understands Peter Obi perhaps better than Obi understands himself. He knows Obi has always been a nomadic politician, moving from APGA to PDP to Labour without ever truly planting ideological roots. No enduring structure. Only borrowed tents in borrowed lands. He is controlled by convenience and not conviction.

Now, Atiku is tearing off Obi’s last garment of political dignity, leaving him exposed before the Nigerian people, mocked as unstable, opportunistic, and desperate.

It is a painful irony. A man once revered for moral integrity now risks being remembered as the pawn in a political chess game he never truly understood.

People say Peter Obi rejected oil blocks. That he left billions in government coffers. That he fought corruption and lived modestly. Yes, we remember. But the past has a short shelf-life in politics. The real question is: who is Peter Obi now?

A man in the middle of a crumbling coalition.

A man surrounded by bitter voices and sycophants who thrive on emotional blackmail.

A man who abandoned a thriving home, the Labour Party, for a house already rigged with explosives.

Where were the wise counselors? Where were the men and women of conviction in his camp?

Instead of building on the fire of 2023, he allowed the flame to be carried away by winds of pride and discontent. He had everything, the support of millions, the automatic ticket, the love of a generation - but he chose to throw it into a pot of confusion.

Now, the Obidients are in disarray, pleading with Atiku to step down for Obi or they walk. But how did they end up begging from the same man they once mocked as yesterday’s relic?

Politics is not Twitter. It is not X spaces or emotional hashtags. It is cold. It is strategic. It is ruthless. Atiku has the numbers. Atiku has deep pockets. Atiku has structure. And most importantly, he has no illusions about what power means.

Peter Obi must ask himself the hard questions:

Why did I leave my house to beg for a seat in another man's living room?

Why did I abandon Barr Julius Abure, who gave me a platform when no one else did?

Why did I trade the soul of a movement for a place in a coalition with no clear soul?

Peter Obi may still salvage something. But first, he must confront his pride, acknowledge his errors, and reconcile with the Labour Party. He must submit to leadership, not as a weak man, but as a wise man who understands that true power lies in unity, not ego.

He must purge his circle of manipulators, bitter men and women who sow division and sell dreams they cannot fund. He must stop letting his legacy be defined by those who insult everyone on his behalf.

It is time to return home.

It is time to rebuild the wall.

It is time to reclaim what he nearly lost, his name, his strength, and his cause.

Atiku may have trapped him, but it is not Atiku’s fault.

It is time Peter Obi stops playing the victim.

This is not about who betrayed him. It is about how he betrayed his own momentum.

Let the nation see the real Peter Obi again. Not the desperate wanderer, but the focused builder. Not the coalition candidate, but the conviction candidate.

Because right now, the only thing worse than being used is pretending not to know you were used.