• ADC will provide credible alternative in 2027 elections, Dalung assures
• Obi will not have LP’s 2027 ticket, Arabambi declares

Former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Dele Momodu, has criticised the zoning of the presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 general election.

Momodu, in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme yesterday, described the move as a tool of blackmail designed to weaken opposition parties.

He said that zoning sentiments were unconstitutional and deliberately targeted at reducing competition against President Bola Tinubu.

“There is nothing in the Nigerian Constitution that stops anyone, whether you are a northerner or a southerner, from contesting.

“This so-called sentiment is a result and reward of blackmail from some people who want to deliberately keep all other parties down.

“Because they know that if you zone all other parties to the South in the Presidency, none of them will be able to beat President Bola Tinubu,” Momodu said.

He said that zoning was being manipulated to favour the ruling party.

Momodu, now a chieftain of the opposition coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC), said that no candidate, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had been promised an automatic ticket by the party.

Also, former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has declared that the ADC is fully prepared to contest the 2027 general elections despite concerns raised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the party’s leadership registration.

Dalung, while speaking during an interview on Arise TV’s Morning Show, yesterday, dismissed the fears that INEC’s procedural queries could derail the party.

“The ADC is a registered political party in Nigeria and has existed for over 19 years.

“The party is currently in transition with new coalition partners being incorporated, and this process is ongoing. So, it is misleading to say that the ADC is just an association,” he said.

IN another development, the Labour Party (LP) National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, has declared that former presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, will not secure the party’s ticket for the 2027 elections.

Arabambi, who spoke on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics yesterday, said the LP could survive without Obi.

He insisted that the momentum the party enjoyed in 2023 was driven more by the #EndSARS movement and public discontent with the Muhammadu Buhari.