The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has said that if elected president, he will listen to every section of the country and make sacrifices to achieve national unity.
According to Ibrahim Umar, POMR Spokesperson ho signed the statement, Obi made the remark in Washington, USA, while responding to questions from Nigerians on how he would unify the country. “If I become president, I will listen to all agitators, harmonise them and make some sacrifices with a view to bringing the country together,” he said.
Obi’s media office noted that the statement marked a shift from the conventional, force-based approach to state security and national cohesion. It said Obi’s philosophy positions dialogue, social justice and inclusion as the primary mechanisms for healing Nigeria’s deep-seated geopolitical fractures.
The statement added that Obi’s position has been misconstrued by some people who singled out Nnamdi Kanu and used it to attach ethnic motives to the candidate.
For decades, Nigeria has relied heavily on military and security interventions to suppress regional grievances in the Southeast, Niger Delta, Middle Belt and the North, the statement said. Obi’s proposal, which opponents have twisted, suggests that agitation is often a symptom rather than the root cause.
By shifting from active combat to active listening, Obi plans to treat agitators not just as security threats but as citizens with grievances — many of which stem from economic marginalisation, perceived injustice and institutional neglect.
The media office said true national unity cannot be coerced but must be built. Obi’s dialogue-first model rests on three pillars: regional agitations are often driven by poverty, youth unemployment and uneven development, and listening allows government to identify socio-economic disparities; agitation flares when regions feel excluded from federal power, and conversation signals every region has a legitimate seat at the table; and democracy practised realistically will use structured dialogue to restore faith in institutions and show that the state values civic engagement over intimidation.
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice,” the statement quoted Obi. This principle, it said, underpins engaging aggrieved factions to find a common, workable middle ground for a fractured nation.
POMR therefore described Obi’s stance as a pragmatic recognition that gun-barrel diplomacy has limits. For a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state like Nigeria, unity cannot be enforced by decree but must be negotiated through shared prosperity, fairness and mutual respect.
A new Nigeria is possible.
