“I’m more qualified than TINUBU, ATIKU and OBI” – UTOMI

Monday, January 19, 2026 - Political economist and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said that he is better prepared to lead Nigeria than President Bola Tinubu and other leading opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general election.

Utomi stated this on Sunday while featuring as a guest on Politics Today, where he spoke on his political journey, coalition talks within the opposition, and what he described as Nigeria’s worsening democratic and governance crisis.

“Has it ever occurred to you that I am more qualified than all of them (Atiku, Obi), including Bola Tinubu, in terms of preparation to lead Nigeria. To be totally honest, I have never left the ADC since 2007,” Utomi said.

He recalled the ADC’s early efforts at coalition-building following the 2007 elections, noting that those engagements once brought together individuals who are now spread across different political camps, including the ruling party.

“We went around trying to find people to come together. After we made the 2007 run of the ADC, and if you had listened to Ralph Nwosu on October 31, 2025, he tried to talk about this.

“I went out trying to see how we could build this coalition, and at one point in time, that effort included both the incumbent Tinubu and most of the people in the ADC today — the Good, bad and ugly,” he said.

According to Utomi, genuine national progress can only come through inclusive political engagement rather than exclusionary calculations.

“If we are going to make progress, it is important to bring everybody into the house,” he added.

He also dismissed what he described as the growing assumption that defections of state governors into the ruling All Progressives Congress would automatically translate into electoral victories in 2027.

“Now, the truth of the matter is this. Check how many APC governors actually won their states in the last election. Very few. The logic is that maybe if so many of the governors joined, they could then cheat the way it was done in Port Harcourt or somewhere and therefore the victories are sure. I want to tell you, it won’t be like that,” he said.

The ADC chieftain warned that Nigeria’s continued democratic decline could have severe consequences if urgent reforms are not undertaken.

Utomi also warned against any attempt to rig the people’s mandate in 2027.

“Tomahawk missiles will end up in the back of some people’s backyard. Nigeria cannot continue the way it has been,” he cautioned.

Drawing from his international engagements after the 2007 elections, Utomi recounted a conversation with global leaders who questioned the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process.

“Look, when I ran in 2007, I was at a lunch after the election with the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Canadian Prime Minister Martin, and they said to me, ‘What do you people call what has just happened in your country?

“The world for a long time has known that elections don’t take place in Nigeria, and the country cannot continue like that. If it goes that way in 2007, there may be no Nigeria after it. So let us be careful,” he said.

Utomi’s comments come amid growing internal debate within the ADC and the broader opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 presidential race.

Two weeks ago, another ADC chieftain and former presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, publicly criticised Utomi over remarks he made concerning the party’s 2027 presidential ticket and the political future of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Momodu reacted in a post on his verified X account following an earlier television interview in which Utomi warned that he would withdraw his support for Obi if the former Anambra State governor accepted a vice-presidential slot in the emerging opposition coalition.

Momodu said he was taken aback by Utomi’s position, arguing that it undermined democratic choice within the opposition.

“Anyone insisting that Obi cannot run behind anyone is definitely not a democrat who wishes to rescue Nigeria from one-man dictatorship,” Momodu wrote.

While acknowledging his admiration for Utomi, Momodu stressed that Nigerian politics demands strategic realism rather than rigid idealism as opposition forces attempt to unseat the ruling party in 2027.