Chief Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation Magazine, has fiercely criticized the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for its decision to zone the 2027 presidential ticket to Southern Nigeria.
In a terse statement shared on his Instagram page on Tuesday, Momodu described the move as “the most reckless decision in the history of our nascent democracy,” accusing the opposition party of succumbing to what he termed “cheap and puerile blackmail” allegedly orchestrated by figures aligned with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Momodu didn’t hold back, calling out former Rivers State governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as a key architect of the decision, while alleging that President Bola Tinubu’s influence looms large.
“Who did not know that ultimately the hand was that of Wike while the voice was that of Tinubu?” he wrote.
According to him, Wike’s sway over jittery PDP governors has left the party vulnerable, effectively surrendering its structures to Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
“No Jupiter will stop Wike from using PDP structures for Tinubu. That’s already a done deal”, Momodu declared.
He also mocked the PDP’s attempt to present itself as committed to zoning, pointing out Wike’s contradictory stance. Momodu reminded Nigerians that Wike opposed zoning in 2022 and even lobbied to be vice president to a northern candidate, only to now insist on power shifting to the South.
“The same man that threw out zoning in 2022 is now crying loudest that power must be ceded to the South in 2027″, he noted.
Momodu further dismissed speculation about potential southern candidates like ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, or Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde as “blatant lies from the pit of hell.”
He argued that the PDP’s real strategy is to back Tinubu while pretending to field a candidate, calling the move a betrayal of opposition politics.
Accusing the PDP of hypocrisy, Momodu questioned why similar concerns about zoning weren’t raised during past events, such as when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s death resulted in Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, completing the term and running for another.
He also slammed the silence over Tinubu’s controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023.
“The hypocrisy behind zoning power to the South stinks to high heavens. TRUTH must not be selective”, he concluded.
This scathing critique has sparked a fresh wave of debate within political circles, with Momodu’s comments highlighting divisions and raising questions about the PDP’s strategy ahead of the 2027 elections.