Ike-Muonso urges Peter Obi to back Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid

By Emmanuella Opara | October 26th 2026

KEY POINTS

• RMRDC Director-General Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso urges Peter Obi to drop his 2027 presidential ambition and support President Bola Tinubu.
• He argues that the South should complete its eight-year presidential tenure before power returns to the North.
• Ike-Muonso also encourages Obi to join the APC and contribute to its policy discussions.
• The RMRDC chief links political continuity to industrialisation, local raw-material processing and job creation.

MAIN STORY

The Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has urged Peter Obi to abandon his 2027 presidential ambition and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, arguing that the South should complete its eight-year presidential tenure before power returns to the North.

Ike-Muonso made the call at an interactive session in Abuja on Monday, where he also encouraged the former Anambra State governor, who is the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, to consider joining the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He acknowledged Obi’s contribution to national discussions on public expenditure, accountability and economic management, but argued that the former governor should prioritise political collaboration and national development over his immediate presidential ambition.

“Peter Obi has done well by building a political following and brought issues of public expenditure, accountability and economic management into the national conversation. Those issues deserve sustained engagement.

“But political leadership also requires strategic decisions about when to contest, when to collaborate and how best to contribute to national development. Obi needs to step down. Let him shelve his presidential ambition and work with President Bola Tinubu to retain the ticket for the South,” Ike-Muonso said.

He maintained that allowing Tinubu to serve a second term would enable the South to complete eight years in office before the North gets another opportunity to produce the president.

Although the Nigerian Constitution does not provide for presidential zoning between the two regions, Ike-Muonso said respecting the informal power-rotation arrangement could strengthen confidence among the country’s diverse political constituencies.

“Presidential ambition must be balanced with the larger interests of national unity, political stability and the need to sustain policies that can transform the economy.

“Nigeria has developed a political tradition of power rotation between the North and South, and respecting that understanding can help strengthen confidence among the country’s diverse political constituencies,” he said.

The RMRDC director-general said joining the APC would give Obi an opportunity to participate in the party’s internal policy discussions and contribute to its approaches to infrastructure, education, healthcare, investment and economic development.

He acknowledged that the decision rested with Obi but called for a political culture in which prominent figures could set aside past differences and pursue shared national objectives.

Ike-Muonso also argued that the 2027 election debate should focus on policies that could diversify the economy, create jobs and strengthen domestic production rather than centre solely on individual presidential ambitions.

Linking his position to economic development, he said the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda provided a framework for advancing local raw-material development, industrialisation, import substitution and value addition.

He said the RMRDC was pursuing initiatives aimed at moving Nigeria away from exporting unprocessed commodities towards an economy driven by domestic production, manufacturing and investment.

One of the council’s proposals is a legislative framework requiring at least 30 per cent value addition to raw materials before export. The proposal is intended to encourage local processing and retain more of the economic benefits from Nigeria’s natural resources within the country.

“The opportunity before Nigeria is to move beyond exporting raw commodities and build an economy in which our natural resources support local factories, generate employment and create wealth within our communities,” Ike-Muonso said.

He added that the council was promoting the identification and development of raw-material resources across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas to attract investment in processing facilities and industrial clusters.

The RMRDC chief urged political leaders to sustain development initiatives beyond election cycles, stressing that industrialisation required long-term planning, consistent policies and cooperation between the Federal Government and state governments.

THE ISSUES

Ike-Muonso’s appeal places the debate over presidential power rotation at the centre of the 2027 election discussion. While zoning remains an informal political arrangement rather than a constitutional requirement, it continues to influence arguments about party alliances and the distribution of political power.

His call also presents a policy argument for continuity in government, linking Tinubu’s possible second term to the administration’s economic agenda and the RMRDC’s plans to expand local processing and manufacturing. However, Obi’s decision on his candidacy or political affiliation remains his own.

WHAT’S NEXT

The focus will remain on political alignments ahead of the 2027 general elections and whether appeals for regional power rotation influence the positions of presidential candidates and their parties. The implementation of the RMRDC’s proposed raw-material value-addition framework will also depend on the progress of the legislative process and cooperation among relevant authorities.

BOTTOM LINE

Ike-Muonso wants Peter Obi to support Tinubu’s re-election bid in the interest of southern power rotation and policy continuity, while urging political leaders to give greater attention to industrialisation, local production and job creation.