2027: Only a northerner can challenge Tinubu, says Dele Momodu

Dele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation Magazine, has suggested that the only viable challenge to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027 will come from the North, not the South.

Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Wednesday, Momodu argued that any southern politician who attempts to unseat Tinubu would be wasting their time.

I have a theory. And the theory is simple,” Momodu said. “That Tinubu can only be countered this time by a northerner. Any southerner telling you, ‘I want to contest against Tinubu’, is going to waste his time.”

Momodu acknowledged Tinubu’s desire to seek a second term and noted that the South appears to be consolidating behind him.

He said, “Tinubu doesn’t want to leave the position. He wants a second time. Southerners are saying, ‘We want him there.’”

He warned that the strategy of framing Tinubu’s leadership as a southern project could backfire, recalling how a similar miscalculation during the June 12 struggle turned a national mandate into an ethnic one.

“We made that mistake during June 12. When we turned the national mandate of Abiola into a Yoruba mandate. It is the same error of judgment I see Tinubu’s people committing right now.”

The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pointed to growing dissatisfaction in the North over Tinubu’s leadership style and appointments, claiming that many in the region feel excluded and unappreciated.

“Most of them [Tinubu’s appointees] are cronies who have crept into our politics. The North is naturally aggrieved. They thought they supported you, but the moment Buhari left, they started attacking him.”

When I look at the configuration of Tinubu’s cabinet today… people say he’s appointing Yoruba people because he’s a Yoruba man. But it’s not even about Yoruba, it’s about his own personal cronies,” Momodu said.

He added that the internal dynamics within the ruling party and opposition will ultimately shape the political landscape ahead of 2027. Referencing Newton’s third law, Momodu said: “The PDP or coalition or whatever you call them also want power. And the only way they can get power is to go by Isaac Newton’s theory, actions and reactions are always equal and opposite. So they will come from the opposite direction.”

Momodu expressed admiration for Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde but dismissed the possibility of him or any Yoruba candidate defeating Tinubu in a general election.

“I hear some Yoruba person who says he wants to contest. He’s a guy I like, Governor Seyi Makinde, but I know that at the end of the day, that cannot happen,” he said.