Politics
Don’t cross the lines, Dele Momodu, warns Wike, Ortom, Makinde, Ikpeazu
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It appears your party’s Campaign Council is in trouble. Two governors have apparently disowned your presidential campaign and chances are that you might lose votes in their states, Benue and Rivers. How much of blow is this for your party?
I don’t see it as any blow and before I continue, you know that I am a great fan of Governor Wike and Governor Ortom happens to be one of our good governors but you know they work together and, when you look at the pattern, you will see that it is like a deliberate orchestration for maximum effect and impact. It is not true that our candidate did not want to involve them, our candidate reached out to them, several times, at home and abroad, but they remained very rigid in their position. In every reconciliation effort, it is expected that there would be a shift and they said they are not going to shift and anyone who knows Atiku Abubakar very well will know that he is a man who conducts himself very well. His comportment in fact is unprecedented. He does not exchange verbal attacks with anybody. He has been talking to them and he will continue to dialogue with them.
Even some of them (associates) whose names were published, they pulled them out, saying they will not participate in the in the campaign after the Presidential Campaign Council was announced. So, what do you want him to do?
He can’t wait forever and that is why he has moved on, thinking that maybe one day, they will have a change of heart to look favorably in his direction, but, as it is, he has carried on with his campaign without attacking any governor. Calling him an agent of Meyitti Allah is to the extreme. Anybody who has followed the trajectory of Atiku will know that he is detribalized, has friends in every part of Nigeria. I currently work in his office, where a lot of young men and women from every part of Nigeria are doing their work. Atiku Abubakar cannot be an agent of Miyetti Allah, I think that is carrying it too far.
Is it a coincidence that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode stated part of what Governor Orton is re- echoing; allegations of ethnic bigotry, bias and perceived alliance in the manner in which Atiku is said to have aligned.
Govs Wike, Ortom, Makinde and Ikpeazu are asking for equity in the party and Chief Bode George is saying they need a southern face that could give them some sense of relevance in the party’s presidential election. Is it not equity they are asking for?
It is too late in the day for anybody to be asking for a southern candidate. We had a primary election…
Is it a southern candidate they are asking for or a southern representation that is meaningful?
We have it in our party. In fact, PDP has done far better than any other political party in Nigeria. If you look at our trajectory between 1999 and 2007, PDP presented former President Obasanjo, who served for eight years, then we had Yar’ Adua who was in power for three years, then we had former President Jonathan, who was there for five years. So, we (South) would have had 13 years out of 24 years (of democracy) by next year. So, we don’t have that problem in PDP, you can talk about other parties, but I can tell you that the last President the PDP fielded was a southerner. So, nobody is going to accuse us of entrenching Hausa/Fulani interest. There is a major campaign of calumny against the Hausa/Fulani in Nigeria today, which I find very dangerous.
They are Nigerians. They are part of Nigerians and elections are about numbers. If the Hausa/Fulani are able to manage themselves better than southerners, so be it. I was in that race, and I can tell you that southern candidates never worked together. I even tried to reach some southern governors who would not receive me, whereas when you go to the North, there is open door.
I went to Sokoto, Governor Tambuwal was personally driving me round in the state. In the South I was just like nobody. It is the nature of politics. It is whosoever has the capacity to carry every other person along. Let me warn, whenever in the past we had two strong southern candidates, they lost to the North. We did it in 1979 when we had Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the scenario repeated itself in 1983. The South must learn about politics and politicking. It is not about sentiments.
Are you saying the South is naive, politically?
I didn’t use the word naive or naivety but I am telling you history.
The history you are portraying is that the southern political force has gotten it wrong. Is that what you are saying?
Democracy is different from revolution. We must choose between democracy and revolution. South cannot blackmail the North, just like the North cannot blackmail the South. We must work together. When you refuse to do that, you are heading to failure.
President Buhari is a Fulani man and Atiku Abubakar a Fulani man too. A school of thought is asking, irrespective of their political parties, is it fair for a Fulani man to hand over to another Fulani man after leading for eight years?
Democracy is not always about fairness. For instance, how long did it take former President Obama to emerge as US President? It is a game of numbers and not sentiment. You and I can cry from now till kingdom come, until we learn to conduct politics properly, we will continue to lose. Look, before former President Obasanjo emerged as President, he made sure he reached out to everybody, the same thing applied before former President Yar’ Adua. As popular as Buhari was in 2007 and 2011, he couldn’t make it; he was only able to make it in 2015, not because of his tribe but because he was able to reach out to the South. Any southerner who wants to become the President of Nigeria must reach out to the North.
The question is that all the comments and allegations of ethnic beliefs and biases are buttressed by what Atiku said at the Arewa Forum in Kaduna…
What did he say in Kaduna?
What he said was in simple English but people decided to cut away the conclusion. It was the North that asked him a question and he replied by urging them not to vote anybody on account of region. A lot of people today are whipping up emotional sentiments; that it is because of where I come from, the ‘Emilokan syndrome’, “because I am a Yoruba man, then I deserve to be President”, “because I am an Igbo man, I deserve to be President”.
Nobody has championed Igbo presidency more than some of us. (But) that cannot be your only qualification. Go and sell your credentials and manifestos. Atiku Abubakar does not need any of that any longer, he has sold his over the years and everybody is familiar with him. You can call him names, he will not respond, but don’t call him an ethnic jingoist. Never!
Are you saying that what Governor Ortom said is wrong?
He is carrying it too far. He is a man I like so much. Of course it is wrong to label him (Atiku) an agent of Miyetti Allah. You can say anything about Atiku Abubakar but calling him an agent of Miyetti Allah, I disagree vehemently with that. It is wrong. If you don’t want to support a man, it is very easy to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it, but it is wrong to disparage a man who has served his country meritoriously, who has done everything he could for every part of this country; but because you are playing politics, disagree with him, you will use such weighty words against him? Well, there is always another time.
If words are weighty, but are true…
That is what I am telling you, that even Governor Wike, who is supposed to be the angriest of them all because he participated in our primary, has not used such word against Atiku. I give him credit. In getting angry, in trying not to work for him, if that is their decision, let us conduct ourselves well. People get angry, there is nothing wrong in that, they have every reason to be angry, but they should not cross certain lines. I have written in the last couple of months to Governor Wike, the closest to me among them, because I call him the ‘poster boy in PDP’, great guy, doing very well, advising him not to cross certain lines. That night, he called, we spoke briefly and we continued to respect his opinion but I will continue to appeal, don’t destroy the bridge you crossed because you don’t know whether you will need that bridge again, if you don’t need it, a member of your family might need it.
Can your presidential campaign team do without the governors of Oyo, Benue, Rivers and Abia states that are not supporting your candidate? Isn’t you party in trouble in these four states?
My party is not in trouble. I am a child of destiny and God is responsible for everything on earth. If it is God’s wish that Atiku will be the next President of Nigeria, 20 governors cannot stop him. It has happened in Osun State where we counted on Governor Makinde, but for whatever reasons, he couldn’t make it.
We never made an issue of it. We didn’t have Governor Wike when we were campaigning in Osun. (But) we were able to defeat the fire power of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who hails from the state. Despite the absence of all those we expected to support us, we won that election, convincingly. That is how it should be. That is why I keep begging Governor Wike not to be found wanting on a day you are needed most. Whether he likes PDP or not, the party has done very well for him, just as he’s has done very well for PDP. Governor Makinde has an election, next year, you think he will destroy the PDP and still use the platform? He won’t do that.
He is a smart gentle man that I know reasonably well; even though they are very angry, I know they are forming a very powerful bloc, but trust me PDP is so big that it can’t be threatened because our governors are angry. PDP will not go into any fight for anything whatsoever. We will continue to appeal to them, we love them like a man would love members of his family and we are hoping that very soon, we will be able to put everything behind us and embrace one another, again.
A lot of people attribute Nigeria’s current situation to non-inclusion and marginalization and you are saying that politics is a game of numbers. So, you are saying that another northerner should succeed President Buhari for another four or eight years?
Nothing is impossible. I am a very frank person. I am just giving you an example of America, we have the same style of democracy. If it took America over 200 years to produce Obama, it can happen anywhere else in the world. People must work. Sunak just became the British Prime Minister, he didn’t do it by sentiments; he did it by working towards his goal, by reaching out to everyone. Nobody can hand over power to the South free of charge. For instance, when former President Jonathan wanted to contest the 2011 election, a lot of people opposed it. Did he not eventually contest? He did. When he came out for second term, people opposed it again, PDP allowed him. We don’t have the issue of marginalization in PDP.
You referred to the British situation of Sunak. That cannot apply because they operate a different system. They go into election because it was the mandate of the party from the 2019 election. Your party has a constitution that provides for rotation and balance. You have it cast in stone.
We don’t have it cast in stone. As a matter of fact, it was this same Governor Ortom who sat on the panel to look at the issue of whether we should zone or not. Some of us even kicked at that time, asking why he allowed aspirants to buy form before their meeting on the issue. They recommended to the NEC of the party which asked to have favourable competition in the party, “let us throw it open”. No governor opposed it at that stage. Trouble only started after those who thought they would win lost. There was never a time that…if I didn’t believe in it when they set aside the zoning, I will not contest.
Do you think Atiku will win this election?
Oh…his time has come. Every man has his time. By God’s grace, his time has come. He has paid his dues and has conducted himself well. He has gone through trials and tribulations, they have thrown dirty things at him and he has remained focused. In fact, his story will be one of the biggest stories in Africa; of a man who pursued his dream and on the 30th anniversary of June 12, on the 25th anniversary of the late Chief Abiola’s death, that he will be President. He stepped down for the late MKO in the 1993 Jos Convention. I was there, barely 33 years old at that time and, today, I am honoured that, after working for the late Chief, nearly 30 years after, I am here and we are about to crown the man who gave my adopted father that opportunity to get a ticket
You think he can beat the likes of Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu?
Oh! Let’s be fair. I won’t write off anybody but I have stated it historically and maybe I won’t be right but I am right. There is no way you will have two strong southern candidates like we have now and anyone of them wins and Atiku is the only one who can penetrate the South more readily than either of the two penetrating the North.
What about the permutation that most of the votes from the South that will go for Peter Obi were traditionally for your party?
Peter Obi is not Goodluck Jonathan, and Atiku Abubakar is not former President Jonathan; the most formidable force who has always had his network in PDM with the late General Yar’ Adua is Atiku. None of the other people ever built such network in the North, now they are struggling to catch up in the next four months. The ready-made President of Nigeria is Atiku Abubakar.
If Atiku does not win this time, that will be the very end…
If Tinubu does not win this time around, that will be the very end. That is not new but I am telling you that…
Will you be surprised if Atiku does not win?
There is nothing that can stop him this time. A man if his time has come…
What if voters don’t want him?
Who are the voters? The voters are from every part…I am telling you he is the only one who has been the bridge builder. He is the only one who has been able to cross to the South, the others are struggling to build up network in the North.
You see the kind of crowd that Bola Tinubu is commanding in the North in some of the rallies and the ones Peter Obi is getting. Is it not enough threat for the party?
Have you seen the level of crowd Atiku is pulling without having a rally? In Bauchi State, the sea of human beings, I couldn’t believe it. We were in Edo, we have been to Uyo. The only man today who readily cuts across every part of the country is Atiku Abubakar. Hate him or love him, you can’t take that away from him.
You said that when two strong southern candidates are contesting, there is always a problem, historically. What about Atiku and Senator Kwankwaso, both from the North?
I didn’t forget Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. He is a man I love and respect. We have come way back and I am telling you, the North understands the game of power. Whether we want to accept that power or not, that is the truth. In the South, I have told you how difficult it is for us, even as aspirants, to work together.
In the North, if the decision is that Atiku is favoured to win ahead of Kwankwaso, the North will converge and give it to Atiku. That is what is going to happen. I know it for a fact. Why do you think our Director General, Governor Tamubwal, stepped down for Atiku? It was a game of numbers, that was the master stroke which a lot of people did not see coming.
In fact, that was why the governors are very angry because they didn’t see it, coming. But a few of us saw it coming. As far back as March, I had written Governor Wike, telling him precisely what was going to happen, I copied Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, telling them how the thing would flow.
Two weeks to the primary, I wrote in my column, I asked Governor Wike not to spend money hoping that he will carry the day at the convention. Two days later, he dismissed me in a television program. People called me to complain but I told them that Wike is my man. He is our best governor; no matter what he says, I will take it; if he slaps me on the right cheek, I will turn the right but, today, I am right and they were wrong
• Interview first aired on Channels TV Politics Today
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The former member that represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency Chief Chinedu Obidigwe has denied a social media handle where he was said to have made Prof Charles Soludo the Governor of Anambra state.
Obidigwe further stated that the report did neither emanate from him or from his Media Aides urging the party not to believe what he called attempt at setting a negative agenda in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Obidigwe who is an Aspirant of the party for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency accused enemies of the party being sponsored by opposition parties to creat problems .
According to the Media Assistant to Obidigwe Mr Dominic Okagbue in a statement;
“The attention of Hon. Chinedu Benjamin Obidigwe has been drawn to misleading and unfounded claims/propaganda being circulated on various social media platforms through a pseudo account, alleging that Obidigwe said he installed the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, as Governor in 2021”
“We wish to state, without any iota of equivocation, that such a statement never emanated from Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe. It is a desperate move by his political enemies who are bent on tarnishing his image as a tool and technique to advance their unmerited aspirations”
“Obidigwe, in 2021, was merely an electorate with just one vote. Even though he voted for the Governor and APGA, the question remains: can one man’s vote make a Governor?”
“Governor Soludo was elected and made Governor through the collective votes of Ndi Anambra, both in his first and second terms. We therefore call on the reading public to disregard such rumours and treat them as faceless and unfounded allegations geared towards the character assassination of an innocent man” he said.
A former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, says northern political leaders conducted a deliberate assessment of potential allies before settling on Peter Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 presidential campaign.
He dismissed concerns about a hidden power struggle between his camp and Obi’s.Politics
Kwankwaso made the disclosure in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering one of his most detailed accounts yet of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.
“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
Kwankwaso, a two-term former governor of Kano State and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in 2023, leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, a grassroots political force with deep loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.Nigeria travel guide
He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and drew massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.
Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, defecting from the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.Politics
At the party’s national convention on Saturday in Abuja, Kwankwaso backed the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as a step toward fairness, healing and national cohesion.
Responding to a question about whether the alliance concealed a quiet rivalry between both camps, Kwankwaso argued that friction between principals and their deputies was a product of greed, not structural tension.
“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.
He said his record as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as governor of Kano State, showed that political partnerships could hold under pressure.
“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.
Kwankwaso extended the argument beyond his personal experience, saying the same principle applied at the federal level.
In the Senate and other places, in the NDDC, we worked amicably with people. There is so much to be done and that’s why you have even ministers, other executives, advisors and so on. I don’t see from my experiences of the past why deputies or vice would fight with the president or governor,” he said.
He grounded the alliance in Nigerian political history, tracing a lineage of productive North-Southeast partnerships from the first republic to the present.Nigeria travel guide
“Right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence. Now we are going back to what Tafawa Balewa did during their time,” he said.
He also referenced the collaboration between former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and leaders of the NCNC, as well as that of former President Shehu Shagari and his vice president, Alex Ekwueme, in the second republic.
“So also in the second republic, immediately after the war, our leaders, Shagari and others, worked very closely with the southeast, with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. They are our friends. We want to work together with them,” he said.Politics
Kwankwaso also noted that subsequent administrations had shifted power-sharing away from the South-East, a pattern he suggested the current alliance was correcting.
“There was a change during the third republic where for many obvious reasons an election was annulled and the government under the military decided to bring in Shonekan from the South-West.
Even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West again. Even Bola Tinubu probably is a beneficiary of all that,” he said.
He was emphatic that the choice of Obi was not driven by regional sentiment alone.
“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
The movement of both men into the NDC has triggered a wave of defections, with senators, House of Representatives members and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the new party, rapidly reshaping calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance pairs Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure and disciplined voter mobilisation with Obi’s national youth engagement and urban electoral momentum, positioning the NDC as one of the main opposition platforms set to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
By PETRUS OBI
Frontline aspirant for the Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency seat, Anayo Onwuegbu, has successfully completed the screening exercise conducted by the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives screening panel in Abuja ahead of the party primaries scheduled for Friday, May 15, 2026.
Speaking after the exercise, Onwuegbu expressed satisfaction with the screening process, describing it as a reflection of the party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and credible leadership selection ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aspirant, who is seeking to represent Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency under the platform of the APC, stated that he remains focused and prepared to continue to offer quality representation to the people of the constituency.
According to him, “The process once again highlights our party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and the emergence of credible leadership as we prepare for the 2027 general elections.”
He reaffirmed his dedication to the development of the constituency, pledging to serve the people with commitment and purpose if elected.
The APC House of Representatives primaries are expected to hold nationwide on Friday as aspirants battle for the party’s tickets ahead of the 2027 elections.
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