Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has said that Nigerian pastors are unlikely to support a presidential ticket made up of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in the 2027 elections.

Keyamo shared this view during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics. He claimed that pastors will not campaign for someone who will be 80 years old and is a Muslim, referring to Atiku.

He hinted that there are efforts to bring Peter Obi and Atiku together again for the 2027 election, possibly with Obi running as Atiku’s deputy. However, he believes that this plan will not work as expected.

According to him, if Obi accepts the role of vice president, many of the Christian voters who supported him in 2023 will walk away. He recalled that a significant part of Obi’s 6 million votes came from Christians.

Keyamo also pointed out that President Bola Tinubu has an advantage because his wife is a pastor. That, he said, could help the ruling party win over some Christian voters in the next election.

He argued that voters from the South-East who backed Obi in the last election might not do so again if he joins Atiku. In his words, they will withdraw their support once Atiku is involved.

To wrap up his point, Keyamo insisted that no Christian leader would want to campaign for an aging Muslim candidate. As a result, he predicted that the Atiku-Obi ticket would lose the support of both Christian and South-East voters.