Kenneth Okonkwo, former spokesperson of the Labour Party presidential campaign, has called on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to field a northern candidate for the 2027 presidential election, during an interview with Daily Independent on Friday, 25 July, 2025.
He said this is the best strategy to defeat President Bola Tinubu, who is likely to run for a second term.
Okonkwo explained that the political environment in 2027 will be different from that of 2023.
In 2023, there was no incumbent president, and the election was more open.
But in 2027, he said Tinubu will be an incumbent with control over state institutions such as the army, police, and navy.
He argued that it will be very difficult for a fresh southern candidate to defeat a sitting southern president.
He said Nigeria’s political history shows that a northern candidate has more chances to challenge a southern incumbent because of voting patterns and regional alliances.
Okonkwo gave the example of the 2015 election when Bola Tinubu supported Muhammadu Buhari from the North to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan from the South.
According to him, Buhari already had strong support in the North and only needed extra votes from the South to win.
He also said that many people would not be willing to fight for a southern candidate against a southern incumbent, especially when they believe the system may not allow a free and fair election.
He expressed doubt that the 2027 elections will be credible, noting that necessary electoral reforms have not been done.
Okonkwo made it clear that he was speaking from his personal view, not on behalf of the ADC.
He said he believes the ADC will conduct a free and fair primary election.
However, he stressed that the only realistic way to defeat Tinubu is by picking a strong northern candidate and limiting the presidency to one term under an agreement.
”That is why I’m talking from the platform that I don’t believe now we’re going to have free, fair and credible elections in 2027. I don’t believe it because the electoral reforms have not been done so you have only manually generated collated results where all the fraud takes place. Why would you want to take somebody from the southeast who doesn’t have an army, who doesn’t have the navy, who doesn’t have the air force to go and confront somebody from the southwest? he said.
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