Coalition’s 2027 Ticket Open To Northerners, Southerners — Okonkwo

A member of the new political coalition aiming to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said that the presidential ticket of the political alignment will not be zoned to any region in particular.

Okonkwo, who was the spokesperson for the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in 2023, Peter Obi, said that aspirants from both the Northern and Southern region of the country would be allowed to contest for the ticket.

The lawyer, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said no one would be stopped from contesting for the ticket of the coalition.

“I have said it clearly, nobody is going to stop anybody from contesting for the presidential ticket in the coalition, nobody,” he said.

Asked if having another president from the North would be considered as being balanced by Nigerians after Muhammadu Buhari completed eight uninterrupted years before the emergence of Tinubu, Okonkwo proposed a six-year single tenure.

He said, “Politicians have shown that it is very difficult to trust them even when the person promises one term. So, if somebody has taken a term from the South and it is in the middle of the game and the person is not performing like Tinubu, you are going to get into a problem.

“If you get another Southerner, he is going to stay there for eight years. The North will say no, this is injustice. Nobody will allow Tinubu to continue because he is not performing.

“So, the best is to throw it open. When the best comes in, every other person will support him and the person will promise to do four years.”

He reiterated his earlier position that he does not support some of the leaders of the coalition, including Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to emerge as the candidate of the new alignment.