With talks about coalition brewing ahead of the 2027 election, former Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign spokesman Kenneth Okonkwo says he will support a fresh southerner or northerner who is willing to vacate office after a four-year single tenure.

He hinged his decision on equity and fairness to both northern and southern regions of the country, in line with the unwritten rule of rotational presidency.

“Everybody should come together. It is something that can be discussed. Who is going to do four years is going to influence who I am going to support because I still believe in equity and justice,” Okonkwo said on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.

The lawyer, who dumped the Labour Party in February 2025, said he is open to joining the coalescing coalition to trounce President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next poll.

Talks about a coalition have been gaining momentum of late and were heightened by the defection of former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

El-Rufai has been pictured with the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, amongst other powerbrokers in the opposition. Like El-Rufai, Okonkwo recently met with Atiku, saying Nigeria needs cooperation to defeat the ruling APC in the next poll.

Okonkwo described the APC government as incompetent, saying the opposition must put up a formidable front to wrest power from the incumbent in the next election.

He said, “My game plan is simple. If the opposition is serious about wresting power from this incompetent government, they must all come together and act like one because that was what APC did in 2013 and that was what helped them to wrest power in 2015.

“I believe in coalition. When I was leaving, I said I am open to discussions with every group to consolidate the opposition so that we can take out this government.”

The lawyer described the 2027 election as complicated and complex but said the coalition could discuss the modalities for victory in the poll.

Okonkwo said, “2027 is one of the most complicated and complex times in the political history of Nigeria because we have this gentleman’s agreement – eight years in the South, eight years in the North.

“Now, when an incumbent is not doing well, and in the middle of his tenure, it is a very difficult thing to change or to project what will happen.

“Would you say you want to get a fresh person from the South? The North will say that means he will do another eight years. They will be scared, and politicians are not very good at being trusted.

“Would you allow an incompetent government to continue just because you want to sacrifice the whole of Nigeria? Just because you want to leave an incumbent government to finish eight years?

“Would you say let it go to the North when it has just been four years in the South? The South would say you are short-changing us. So, it is a very complicated thing.

“The best thing if politicians were to be trusted is to have a free, fair primary where every qualified person, whether South or North, would partake in it. And whoever would emerge would agree to do four years, whether from the South or the North.

“If he [northerner) does four years, it would have been shared between North and South – four years each, and then it returns to the South.

“Then if a Southern person, a fresh person wins, he will do only four years to complete the eight years. Then, it will go to the north, where it will spend eight years.

“So, if the north agrees that the person there now is not doing well but it is not yet our turn but we can do four years – if the person emerges from the free and fair elections because if you begin to regiment it and say he won’t do primary, then it will be a selective thing, not democratic.

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has dismissed the idea of a possible future merger, and has urged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, and others to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

This was following his resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) on March 10, citing a misalignment of values with the ruling party.

In a recent interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai pleaded with the politicians to join SDP to defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The Presidency on Friday, had said that the 2027 general election was not Tinubu’s current focus, but how to improve the economic conditions of every Nigerian.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Sunday in a statement on X on Friday, said “President Tinubu is not worried about the next election. He’s worried about the shared prosperity that he can bring to Nigerians.

“He’s worried about how the reforms he has put in place will yield necessary impact. He is concerned about what happens to the economy of this country eventually. That’s the focus. “We’ve seen our foreign reserves go up. We’ve seen inflation come down. We’ve seen our trade surplus go up.

“We’ve seen exports go up and imports drop.

“We’ve seen the investments that have been attracted -over 50 billion. We are seeing prices dropping.

“We have clear data and you have a President that is clearly in the driver’s seat, and he has stayed the course of the decisions he has taken.

“And I think that the next election is not really in his view right now.

“It’s how to make sure that at the end of his first term, he can sit back and say, look, “I have impacted the lives of Nigerians. I have turned this economy around”.

However, El-Rufai during the interview with the BBC, called on the trio of Obi, Abubakar and Aregbesola to form a political alliance with him towards the 2027 elections.

“My wishes and prayers are Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Rauf, all opposition leaders to come and join SDP, not to do a merger or to register a new political party,” he said.

“What pains me is that the government we supported and had confidence in would do well because we saw what Tinubu did in Lagos despite his challenges,” he said.

“We all know about his issues in Chicago, but we thought if he could replicate his work in Lagos for Nigeria, let’s support him. However, he failed.”

El-Rufai clarified that his presidential political ambition in 2027, would depend on the party and the will of the people.

“It is not for me to decide; it is the party and the people that will decide. Even when I was contesting for governor, it was people that met and convinced (Muhammadu) Buhari, and he called me and asked me to contest,” he said.

The Presidency has clarified that President Bola Tinubu is currently focused on positively impacting the lives of Nigerians and not the next general elections.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare who made the clarification in a statement on X on Friday, said the president’s achievement would at the end of his tenure, be how he has been able to bring development to the economy.

Dare’s statement comes amid growing political tension and economic hardship in the country.

Efforts to form a coalition that could challenge Tinubu in 2027 are on top gear, as former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, decamped from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The statement read “President Tinubu is not worried about the next election. He’s worried about the shared prosperity that he can bring to Nigerians.

“He’s worried about how the reforms he has put in place will yield necessary impact. He is concerned about what happens to the economy of this country eventually. That’s the focus. “We’ve seen our foreign reserves go up. We’ve seen inflation come down. We’ve seen our trade surplus go up.

“We’ve seen exports go up and imports drop.

“We’ve seen the investments that have been attracted -over 50 billion. We are seeing prices dropping.

“We have clear data and you have a President that is clearly in the driver’s seat, and he has stayed the course of the decisions he has taken.


“And I think that the next election is not really in his view right now.

“It’s how to make sure that at the end of his first term, he can sit back and say, look, “I have impacted the lives of Nigerians. I have turned this economy around”.

Amid hardship rocking the country, Tinubu has assured Nigerians of hope, reiterating his commitment to running a government that listens to the needs of Nigerians.

While receiving the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) on Friday, he told the bishops that he made a tough decision upon assuming office in 2023 by removing subsidies on petroleum products.

He stressed the competition among operators in the petroleum sector, the bountiful harvest enjoyed by farmers, and the lower prices of commodities, adding that investments are flowing into the country.

“Yes, removing the fuel subsidy was hard, tough for me, but it’s a hard choice that Nigeria must face. We are not going to bankrupt our country,” the President was quoted in a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga.