Sheriff Says Atiku Should Wait Till 2031, Predicts North Will Back Tinubu in 2027

Former Borno State Governor and PDP chieftain Ali Modu Sheriff in an interview broadcast on Channels Television declared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should wait until 2031 to contest the presidential election and predicted that northern voters would back President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, in remarks that triggered sharp reactions from both the Kwankwasiyya Movement and other political actors.

Sheriff said Atiku had contested the presidency multiple times without success and argued that northern political calculations for 2027 would be driven by a desire for continuity with a sitting president who was delivering development projects across the region. He also stated that Peter Obi would be unable to command significant northern support in 2027, saying the NDC’s candidate lacked the grassroots political infrastructure in the north needed to translate goodwill into votes.

Kwankwaso Fires Back

Kwankwaso publicly rejected Sheriff’s characterisation, saying millions of northerners made their own independent electoral decisions and that no former governor had the authority to speak for the region’s voters. He cited Obi’s approximately 2.8 million votes in the north during the 2023 election as evidence that the OK ticket’s northern potential was real rather than theoretical.

The OK Movement, Obi’s formal support network, also responded, saying political participation must be protected and not hindered by gatekeepers who sought to define who northern voters could or could not support. The movement accused Sheriff of acting as a spokesman for the political establishment rather than as a voice for ordinary northern citizens.

2027 Northern Political Battle Takes Shape

Analysts said the Sheriff-Kwankwaso exchange reflected the early stages of a fierce battle for northern political framing that would intensify as the 2027 campaign season formally opened. Furthermore, the ADC was simultaneously restructuring its Kano State executive with a new caretaker committee, and the NDC was fighting a court challenge to its ballot eligibility, suggesting that both Atiku’s and Obi’s northern campaign machinery were still under construction. Notably, the APC retained a structural advantage in the north through its network of sitting governors, traditional ruler relationships, and federal project commissioning visits that kept the President visible in the region. Consequently, the 2027 northern presidential contest is shaping up as one of the most complex and consequential in Nigeria’s democratic history.