‘Hand of Wike, voice of Tinubu’ — Dele Momodu criticises PDP for zoning presidency to south

Dele Momodu, an ex-chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former presidential aspirant, has criticised the party’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.

Momodu left the PDP for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) coalition in July.

On Monday, the national executive committee (NEC) of the PDP ceded the presidential ticket for the 2027 election to the southern region.

In a post on Instagram on Tuesday, Momodu described the move as “the most reckless decision in the history of our nascent democracy”.

He alleged that the decision was influenced by Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), whom he accused of working for President Bola Tinubu.

“Yesterday, one of Africa’s biggest, but seriously embattled political parties shot itself in the leg by choosing to hide behind one finger,” Momodu said.

“The PDP finally succumbed to the cheap and puerile blackmail of the black sheep in the opposition party who are openly and daringly working for the ruling party.

“The shame of it was seeing the so-called seasoned politicians, engage in self-adulation for taking the most reckless decision in the history of our nascent democracy, by zoning the 2027 presidential candidacy to Southern Nigeria.”

The PDP chieftain claimed that the party is pretending to field a southern candidate when, in reality, its structures are being positioned to support Tinubu.

“Who did not know that ultimately the hand was that of Wike while the voice was that of Tinubu. Their game plan is not hidden,” he said.

“Wike keeps belching orders at helpless governors who are too jittery to stand firm against daredevil dictatorship. They could not even rescue one of their prominent members in Rivers State, Sim Fubara, when his boat of governance capsized.”

Momodu recalled that Wike opposed zoning in 2022 and even sought to be vice-president to a northern candidate, but is now insisting on a power shift to the south in 2027.

“The geniuses should be courageous enough to admit that Tinubu will be the joint candidate of APC and PDP in 2027. No Jupiter will stop Wike from using PDP structures for Tinubu. That’s already a done deal,” he said.

“Let PDP stop deceiving Nigerians that it will field a southern candidate against Tinubu. Speculations about the possible candidacy of Goodluck Jonathan, Peter Obi and Seyi Makinde are blatant lies from the pit of hell.”

He said the reason given for zoning to the south “stinks to high heavens”.