Supporters of the former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, have intensified calls for the African Democratic Congress to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South.
An ADC chieftain and Obi supporter, who spoke with Sunday Punch on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said zoning the ticket to the South remained the easiest and most reliable path to unseating President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
According to the source, Obi enjoys widespread national appeal, arguing that a southern ticket would further consolidate the emerging opposition coalition.
He said, “The leaders of the party are beginning to realise that if you want to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is from the South, zoning the ticket to the South will allow southern presidential aspirants within the fold of the ADC to contest, and one of them will emerge.
“When that happens, it will be quite easy; in fact, it is going to be the surest way to defeat Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027. Anything short of that will be to the disadvantage of the coalition group.”
The chieftain said Obi’s supporters were not seeking confrontation but broad consultations within the party.
“What we are advocating is that the ticket should be zoned to the South, but we are not going to fight anybody about this. We are going to consult widely and try as much as possible to make every member or stakeholder in this movement understand why it should go to the South. We have credible people,” he added.
Party Leaders Warn Against Zoning
However, ADC leaders have cautioned against what they described as premature zoning arguments. The Chairman of the ADC Chairmen’s Forum and Kogi State chairman, Kingsley Ogga; the forum’s secretary and Edo State chairman, Kennedy Odion; and the Adamawa State chairman, Arabi Mustapha, warned that pushing zoning could weaken the coalition and inadvertently benefit the ruling party.
Ogga urged Obi’s supporters to prioritise the party’s collective interest over personal preferences, insisting that those advocating zoning “do not mean well for the party.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Mustapha said any insistence on a particular zone or aspirant amounted to short-sighted politics.
He said, “My response to them is simple: their thinking is myopic. Let them think far.
“Nigeria has two regions, the North and the South. So, putting a particular interest on someone, for example, a man from the South agitating for Peter Obi, or a man from the North saying Atiku Abubakar, is not what Nigeria really needs now.”
He added that the country required a leader capable of rescuing it from its current challenges, rather than debates driven by regional or personal considerations.
“Nigeria needs someone who will stand on his feet to rescue the nation from where it is. Currently, we don’t have what we call government; we only have people in dictatorial positions of leadership,” Mustapha said.