Peter Obi says he would remain firmly in charge if elected president in 2027, while promising to tackle corruption and address fuel subsidy concerns
Former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has said he would take direct control of his administration if elected president in 2027, contrasting his proposed leadership style with that of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Obi made the remark in a BBC interview while discussing corruption and the performance of the Buhari administration, which governed Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.
According to Obi, Buhari was not sufficiently in control of his government, a situation he said would be different under his own presidency.
“He (Buhari) was not in charge. The difference is that I would be in charge,” Obi said.
The comment has brought one of the recurring themes of Obi’s political messaging, accountability and direct presidential oversight, back into focus as the 2027 election campaign gathers momentum.
Obi, who joined the NDC in May 2026 after leaving the Labour Party, was subsequently unveiled as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The party also adopted former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate.
His criticism of Buhari also echoes a position he expressed years earlier.
In 2018, while serving as the Peoples Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Obi similarly argued that Buhari was not in charge of his administration.
This time, however, Obi is presenting the issue as part of his own argument for stronger presidential control and accountability.
He said corruption would be a central target of his administration, particularly in areas where public resources are involved.
Obi also linked corruption to Nigeria’s long-running fuel subsidy debate, arguing that the problem was not simply the existence of subsidy but the alleged leakages and abuse associated with its administration.
“From day one, I talked about subsidy. Corruption is the problem with subsidy. I will remove the corruption and return the subsidy,” he said.
“If you are not stealing, if you are not involved, and your wife and family are not involved, then you reduce it by 50 per cent.”
The position is significant because the question of whether Nigeria should maintain, reform or restore petrol subsidy has become an increasingly prominent issue ahead of the 2027 election.
President Bola Tinubu ended the petrol subsidy at the beginning of his administration in May 2023, triggering a sharp increase in petrol prices and wider cost-of-living pressures.
The policy has since remained one of the most contentious economic issues in the country.
Obi’s latest comments also come amid some debate over the precise form his campaign intends to adopt on subsidy.
In August, an NDC spokesperson said Obi would not return Nigeria to the old subsidy regime or channel subsidy funds through state governors, arguing instead that resources should be directed towards healthcare, education, transport and job creation.
The latest BBC remarks therefore put renewed attention on Obi’s formulation that he would “bring back the fuel subsidy and remove the corruption”.
The distinction suggests that, if the proposal becomes formal policy, the former governor is presenting it as a restructured subsidy system rather than a return to the arrangements that existed previously.
The subsidy question is particularly sensitive because of the scale of public spending involved during the Buhari years.
An analysis published by BusinessDay in 2023 estimated that the federal government spent more than N11 trillion on petrol subsidies during Buhari’s eight years in office, based on data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
Buhari’s government, however, maintained that it made progress in confronting corruption and improving transparency.
The former administration highlighted measures including its participation in the Open Government Partnership, asset recovery initiatives and efforts by anti-corruption agencies to prosecute corruption-related cases.
Independent assessments of the administration have produced more critical conclusions.
A 2025 academic study assessing corruption and governance under Buhari argued that the administration fell short of its anti-corruption promises, while noting the importance of the campaign against corruption in Buhari’s original political platform.
Obi’s 2027 campaign is now unfolding against a broader opposition contest in which economic management, the cost of living, fuel prices, corruption and the use of public resources are likely to remain major issues.
The NDC has already positioned itself around institutional reform, including digitising government processes, strengthening procurement transparency, protecting whistleblowers and improving public-sector accountability.
The party zoned its 2027 presidential ticket to the South for a single four-year term, with its convention stating that the presidential ticket would move to the North for 2031.
For Obi, the central challenge will now be translating broad promises of accountability and stronger presidential control into specific policies that address corruption, fuel prices, public spending and the wider economic pressures confronting Nigerians.
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His latest remarks indicate that he intends to make leadership accountability a defining part of that argument, presenting his proposed presidency as one in which the president would remain directly responsible for the actions of the government he leads.
