“I Will Support a Northerner in 2027” – Kenneth Okonkwo Warns Tinubu Will Defeat Southerner

Actor-turned-lawyer Kenneth Okonkwo has advised the opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to back a northern candidate in the 2027 presidential election, warning that President Bola Tinubu would easily defeat any southern challenger.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Okonkwo said the only path to unseating Tinubu is to present a northern heavyweight with broad regional support—someone in the mould of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, or former Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal. He maintained that any southern candidate, including former Labour Party flag bearer Peter Obi, would pave an easy path to re-election for Tinubu.

“My strategy this time around is that I am going to support a northerner in 2027,” Okonkwo declared. “It must be a northerner that the whole north is willing to support. If the whole north is willing to support an Atiku, why not? If the whole north is willing to support a Tambuwal, why not?”

Okonkwo, who served as a spokesperson for Obi during the 2023 presidential campaign but later left the Labour Party in July 2024 over internal crises, said that presenting a southerner would effectively hand Tinubu a second term. “Anybody telling you to bring a fresh southerner to compete against Tinubu, a southerner, is trying to tell you to zone the ticket to Tinubu and Tinubu will win outright,” he said.

He argued that in Nigeria’s political reality, only a candidate with establishment backing can withstand the pressures of incumbency. Citing the 2023 election, which he claims was won by Obi but “stolen,” Okonkwo said the same fate awaits any future southeastern candidate without institutional support. “Even if he wins, they will steal it from him,” he warned.

The opposition coalition intensified its alliance efforts on July 2, 2025, when leading figures including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir El-Rufai endorsed the ADC as their joint platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The coalition aims to capitalise on the combined strength of Atiku and Obi, who polled over 12 million votes in 2023—over four million more than Tinubu, who was declared the winner.

Tinubu, who assumed office in May 2023 after defeating Atiku and Obi, is seeking re-election to complete Nigeria’s unwritten north-south power rotation. He succeeded former President Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled from 2015 to 2023.

Okonkwo, criticising Tinubu’s leadership, said, “Tinubu has become incurably bad and we want to terminate his incumbency.” He dismissed concerns about regional injustice, asserting that power must shift strategically, not sentimentally. “Whoever wins in a primary election will take it for four years. Where is the injustice?” he asked.