Dele Momodu Backs Atiku-Obi Ticket for ADC, Says APC Is in a Panic Over 2027

Atiku Abubakar and Peter Gregory Obi 

Media mogul Dele Momodu has thrown his weight behind a potential Atiku-Obi presidential ticket on the ADC platform, arguing the combination would throw the ruling APC into disarray ahead of the 2027 elections.

The 2027 general elections are still more than a year away, but the political temperature in Nigeria is already rising sharply. Media mogul and publisher Dele Momodu has entered the conversation with a bold proposition: that the African Democratic Congress should consider pairing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with former Anambra Governor Peter Obi on a joint presidential ticket, a combination he believes would shake the All Progressives Congress to its foundations. 

Momodu made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television's Politics Today programme, laying out his reasoning with characteristic directness. According to him, Atiku and Obi possess a natural political chemistry forged during the 2019 presidential campaign, where they ran together under the Peoples Democratic Party and mounted a serious challenge to the then-incumbent APC government. 

Why the Pairing Makes Sense 

"I'd pair him with Peter Obi because they worked together in 2019, so they already share a similar temperament," Momodu said during the broadcast. He added that Obi's performance in the 2023 election, where he came third nationally but won many urban centres and the hearts of young voters, means any ticket featuring him starts with a readymade base of enthusiastic supporters who would not need to be rebuilt from scratch. 

The ADC has been gaining unusual attention in recent weeks following its national convention, which drew notable opposition figures and, remarkably, representatives of the British High Commission in Nigeria. The party's growing profile as a potential umbrella for opposition consolidation has added urgency to debates about what presidential ticket it could credibly offer. 

APC Responds as Tinubu Faces Tax Reform Messaging Battle 

On the ruling party's side, the mood is watchful. Momodu claimed directly that the APC cannot quite believe that multiple high-profile opposition leaders are converging in one political space, and that this development is triggering real concern within party circles.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has been busy defending his administration's record on tax reform. Speaking in Abuja this week, the President argued that colonial-era tax laws fragmented and impoverished Nigerians through multiplicity and inconsistency, and pledged that his new reforms would deliver greater economic inclusivity. Presidential aide Sunday Dare has also been in the news, accusing former Vice President Atiku of playing political games with the recent Jilli airstrikes controversy rather than engaging in good-faith criticism. 

With the Independent National Electoral Commission already postponing its voter revalidation exercise to a later date, the machinery of 2027 is grinding slowly into motion. Every week that passes without a clear opposition strategy is a week that benefits the incumbent. Whether Momodu's vision of an Atiku-Obi ADC ticket becomes reality will depend heavily on internal negotiations that are still far from complete.