Nigerian media personality and political commentator, Dele Momodu, has said that the 2027 presidential election will be decided by regional alliances, not personal popularity.
Momodu made this known on Sunday in a post on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account, where he addressed the political future of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
A former presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Momodu said that while Tinubu and Atiku are the most well-known political figures in Nigeria today, fame alone will not be enough to secure victory in 2027.
“Nobody is more famous than Tinubu and Atiku. Nobody, in that order. Fame alone cannot win a presidential election in 2027,” he wrote.
According to him, the 2027 race will be a battle of regions, similar to how former President Muhammadu Buhari secured power in 2015 by selecting Yemi Osinbajo, a Southerner, as his running mate.
“It is going to be a battle of the regions, the way Buhari combined with Osinbajo in 2015. Tinubu already has an advantage in the South with the incumbency factor,” Momodu said.
He stressed that the opposition will find it difficult to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) unless it builds a strong coalition that cuts across Nigeria’s diverse regions. He warned against any individual opposition figure thinking they can single-handedly challenge the APC without wide national support.
“No individual today in opposition can single-handedly take on the APC behemoth. It would amount to a delusion of grandeur,” he said.
Momodu, the publisher of Ovation International magazine, added that the regional divide in Nigerian politics has deepened since the 2023 general elections, where Tinubu emerged victorious. According to him, some parts of the country, especially the North, feel they were unfairly treated and would no longer be easily convinced to support a Southern candidate.
“It has already been turned into a regional war between the North and the South. The South will support a Southern candidate and the North can no longer be persuaded or blackmailed into supporting the South after the treatment meted to them after the last election,” he wrote.
“It has become everyone for himself and God for us all.”
Dele Momodu’s comments reflect growing political discussions across the country as politicians and analysts begin to look ahead to the next election cycle in 2027.
In the 2023 election, President Tinubu, who hails from the South-West, defeated both Atiku Abubakar (PDP) and Peter Obi (Labour Party) in a closely contested race that saw strong regional voting patterns. The North mostly backed Atiku, while the South-East and parts of the South-South supported Obi. Tinubu’s strongholds were in the South-West and parts of the North-West, boosted by APC’s political structure.
Since then, there has been ongoing debate about zoning, equity, and regional representation in the presidency, with many in the North feeling that the power shift to the South may have come at their political expense.
Momodu’s remarks serve as a warning to both Tinubu and Atiku that navigating Nigeria’s complex regional politics will be key to winning in 2027.
He urged political leaders to think strategically and build meaningful alliances rather than relying solely on personal popularity, political ambition, or party machinery.
