KEY POINTS
- Momodu says zoning has no constitutional basis and is distracting the opposition.
- He urges Jonathan, Obi and Makinde to meet and pick a consensus southern candidate.
- A northern flagbearer, he argues, offers the only realistic path to defeat Tinubu.
Veteran journalist and former Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant Dele Momodu has warned that the opposition’s running argument over presidential zoning will collapse its 2027 challenge and hand President Bola Tinubu a comfortable second term. Speaking Tuesday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Momodu urged opposition leaders to drop sentiment and embrace a strategic consensus instead.
Furthermore, Momodu argued that nothing in the Nigerian Constitution backs the zoning formula that opposition figures continue to invoke. According to him, the insistence that the presidency must remain in the South is sentimental, not strategic, and plays directly into Tinubu’s re-election machinery. Consequently, he said, anyone serious about removing the incumbent must rethink the geography of the contest.
Momodu pushes northern flag
Specifically, Momodu said the opposition’s only realistic path runs through a northern flagbearer who can consolidate the region’s bloc vote. “Strategically, there is no basis for zoning. Anybody who wants to remove Tinubu will have to come from the opposite direction,” he said. Moreover, he named former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal as the figures best placed to anchor that ticket.
In addition, Momodu argued that the North remains a decisive electoral bloc capable of overwhelming any rival coalition. “If the North fields one candidate, nobody can defeat them. I am sure about that,” he said. Therefore, he urged opposition strategists to negotiate around northern capacity rather than southern entitlement, calling the current posture self-defeating.
Southern hopefuls warned
Subsequently, Momodu turned to the crowded field of southern aspirants and warned that vote-splitting would gift the election to Tinubu. He named former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Anambra Governor Peter Obi and Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde as the figures who must meet urgently. Additionally, he suggested two of them should step down for whichever candidate polls strongest in early opposition primaries.
Moreover, Momodu cautioned that pride and personal ambition could wreck the coalition’s arithmetic. “If Peter Obi and Jonathan and Seyi Makinde decide to continue in the race, it is going to backfire for the South,” he said. However, he stressed that an orderly withdrawal in favor of Jonathan or Obi could still deliver a competitive ticket if paired with northern muscle.
2027 a ‘big boys’ contest
Meanwhile, Momodu predicted that the 2027 ballot would be dominated by Nigeria’s heaviest political hitters rather than fresh entrants. “The game ahead is going to be a game of the biggest boys. 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.
Ultimately, Momodu framed consensus as “the most sensible thing” and warned that the opposition cannot afford to waste resources on a divisive primary. Furthermore, his intervention lands as the African Democratic Congress weighs adopting a consensus candidate under a Nigeria Democratic Congress umbrella. Therefore, his warning sharpens the pressure on coalition strategists to settle their northern-southern split before campaign season begins in earnest.
