Actor-turned-lawyer and politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has announced that he will support a northern presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections, warning that President Bola Tinubu will likely be re-elected if the opposition fields another southern candidate like Peter Obi.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Okonkwo, a former spokesperson for Peter Obi in the 2023 elections, emphasized that Nigeria’s political reality favors a northern candidate if the opposition hopes to defeat Tinubu.
“My strategy this time around is that I am going to support a northerner in 2027,” Okonkwo said.
“It must be a northerner that the whole north is willing to support.”
He added that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or ex-Governor Aminu Tambuwal could be strong contenders, so long as they carry broad northern backing and are paired with a southern running mate.
“Southerner vs Southerner Will Hand Tinubu Victory”
Okonkwo cautioned that pitting a southern candidate against Tinubu would hand the incumbent an easy win.
“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 warned.
He also criticized the political vulnerability of southeastern candidates, alleging that even a legitimate victory could be stolen from them without institutional backing.
“If you bring somebody from the Southeast, even if he wins, they will steal it from him,” he said, citing Peter Obi as an example.
Why He Left Labour Party
Okonkwo recently resigned from the Labour Party in July 2024, citing internal conflicts and Obi’s failure to resolve them. His new political stance comes amid the emergence of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the unified opposition platform for 2027.
The ADC coalition includes key opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, David Mark, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir El-Rufai. Collectively, Atiku and Obi polled over 12 million votes in the 2023 election—surpassing Tinubu’s declared total by more than four million.
