Dele Momodu said on Tuesday that Nigeria has no basis for zoning the presidency and warned that opposition arguments over rotation could end up helping President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027. Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, he said anybody trying to unseat Tinubu would have to come from the opposite direction.
“Strategically, there is no basis for zoning. Anybody who wants to remove Tinubu will have to come from the opposite direction,” Momodu said, adding that opposition parties should look to the North for a single strong candidate. He said they should consider “finding an Atiku or a Tambuwal from the North,” and argued that if the North fields one candidate, “nobody can defeat them.”
Momodu said the Constitution does not contain zoning and urged politicians to stop treating it as a governing rule. “There is no zoning in the Constitution of Nigeria, so let us stop distracting ourselves,” he said. His comments landed as opposition figures continue to debate how to challenge Tinubu in 2027, with coalition talks also reported inside the African Democratic Congress over the possibility of backing a consensus presidential candidate under the Nigeria Democratic Congress label.
The split, in Momodu’s view, is inside the South. He said southern presidential hopefuls should meet urgently and consider stepping down for one consensus contender, warning that if Peter Obi, Goodluck Jonathan and Seyi Makinde all stay in the race, it would backfire for the region. “I would suggest that the southern candidates should meet urgently, if possible, and maybe they will withdraw for Jonathan or for Peter Obi,” he said. “But if Peter Obi and Jonathan and Seyi Makinde decide to continue in the race, it is going to backfire for the South.”
He described 2027 as a contest for the “biggest boys,” saying Tinubu’s advantage is hard to ignore because he is already in office. “President Jonathan is formidable; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being the current president, is extraordinarily formidable; and then the combination of Peter Obi and Kwankwaso is also going to be formidable,” he said. Momodu added that voting patterns are predictable and that Nigeria should not pretend politics works differently from other countries.
The message from Momodu was blunt: if the opposition keeps arguing over zoning instead of choosing one candidate, it may strengthen the president it wants to defeat. His answer to the question hanging over the field is just as direct — the South is unlikely to win 2027 with several contenders in the race, and the opposition’s best chance is to settle on one name before Tinubu’s advantage hardens further.
