Dele Momodu: Only a northerner can stop Tinubu in 2027

Dele Momodu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says only a northern candidate can give President Bola Tinubu a run for his money in the 2027 election.

Speaking on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Wednesday, Momodu said the main opposition party has treated the south fairly.

The publisher of Ovation Magazine also dismissed talks of a north-south divide in the party, saying the PDP has always respected regional balance.

“PDP does not have a north-south problem. The PDP fielded General Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007,” Momodu said.

“Thereafter, Yar’Adua came in but unfortunately passed away in office, and Goodluck Jonathan, the perfect gentleman, came on board and completed the term.

“Jonathan then did another four years, ending in 2015. They still gave him the ticket again that year, which he lost to Buhari. Had he won, southerners would have ruled for 17 of the PDP’s 24 years in power. Nobody remembers.

“People say it should be eight years north, then eight years south — under which constitution? We must not run away from the truth: the PDP has been fair to the south.

“It was the same Wike people complaining about north-south that brought the committee and threw our party primary open.

“That’s why I was able to buy a form. I bought a form because, at that time, Atiku had told them that if they ceded power to the south-east, then it would make sense to him, but if it would still be a rotation between just a few zones, he would not support it.

“He wanted them to cede power to the south-east. But because Wike had already disqualified himself by saying he’s not an Igbo man, he said he’s from south-south, he’s not interested in Igbo anything, so he succeeded in frustrating Peter Obi out of the party.

“So, the coast was clear for Nyesom Wike.”

‘ONLY A NORTHERNER CAN BEAT TINUBU’

Responding to comments by Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s spokesperson, who dismissed the coalition as “dead on arrival”, Momodu insisted it was worth pursuing.

“Necessity is the mother of invention: it will not happen until it has been tried and tested,” he said.

“I have a theory that Tinubu can only be countered this time by a northerner. Any southerner telling you they want to contest against Tinubu is only wasting their time.

“The PDP or the coalition also wants power, and the only way they can get it is to go by Isaac Newton’s law of actions and reactions, which are always equal and opposite.

“So, they will come from the opposite direction; I can guarantee that — who the person will be, I don’t know.

“If a Yoruba person attempts it — I hear someone like Governor Seyi Makinde wants to contest — he’s a guy I like, but I know that, at the end of the day, it cannot happen.

“What will then happen is that the north — when you look at the configuration of Tinubu’s cabinet today and all his appointments — you would say, oh, he’s appointing Yoruba people.

“But the Yoruba man is mostly about his own personal cronies; most of them are his associates. Cronyism has crept into our politics, and the north is naturally aggrieved.”

Momodu said the north felt betrayed after former President Muhammadu Buhari left office and was attacked, warning that Ifeanyi Okowa’s framing of the race as a southern agenda is dangerous.

The PDP chieftain added that Tinubu’s camp risks repeating the June 12 error by turning a national mandate into a regional cause.