Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi is now the frontrunner to clinch the presidential ticket of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) following the party’s formal resolution to zone its 2027 ticket to the South for a single four-year term.
The NDC, which is currently holding its national convention at the Los Angeles Event Centre in Abuja, ratified the zoning decision after extensive deliberations among delegates.
According to the agreement, the South will produce the party’s flag bearer for the 2027 general election, with the ticket returning to the North after a single term.
The zoning decision is widely seen as a major political opening for Obi, who hails from Anambra State in the South-East. With the ticket now reserved for the South, Obi is expected to emerge as a strong contender within the party.
Obi’s spokesman had previously insisted that a southern candidate would give any opposition party the best chance of victory in 2027. “To make it easy for the party to win, zone it to the South and give the candidacy to the South, and you are sure of winning,” Yunusa Tanko, Obi’s spokesperson, stated last month.
Obi’s move to the NDC is the latest in a series of political realignments since the 2023 general election. He first ran for president under the Labour Party in 2023, where he garnered significant support from young voters in what became known as the “Obidient” movement. However, he later exited the Labour Party, citing internal crisis and what he described as the hijack of the party’s structure by forces hostile to his movement.
In December 2025, Obi joined a coalition with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). That coalition, however, proved short-lived due to internal disagreements over zoning and leadership of the party.
Obi formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, 2026, receiving his membership card alongside Kwankwaso at a well-attended ceremony in Abuja.
Their defection came just days after they both exited the ADC, citing unresolved crises over the party’s zoning formula and national leadership structure. Since then, no fewer than 17 members of the House of Representatives have also defected to the NDC, signaling growing momentum behind the party as a formidable opposition platform ahead of the 2027 elections.
However, Obi’s political travels have attracted criticism from political observers and rival camps, who have labeled him inconsistent. Critics point to his movement from the Labour Party to the ADC and now to the NDC within a span of less than two years, arguing that a presidential aspirant should demonstrate greater ideological commitment to a single political platform.
Supporters of President Bola Tinubu have particularly seized on Obi’s party switching, with some ruling party spokespersons describing him as a “political nomad” who lacks the patience to build a party from within. Others have questioned whether Obi’s “Obidient” movement is transferable across platforms, or whether his supporters will follow him to yet another new party.
Defenders of Obi argue that his moves are pragmatic responses to a flawed political system, noting that many Nigerian politicians have switched parties in pursuit of viable platforms. They point out that Tinubu himself moved from the Alliance for Democracy to the Action Congress to the All Progressives Congress before winning the presidency.
Obi has yet to directly address the inconsistency label in the context of his move to the NDC. However, his spokesman has previously argued that Obi’s commitment is to good governance and national renewal, not to any single party name. “What matters is the vision and the character of the candidate, not the acronym of the party,” Tanko said in a recent interview.
Despite the favorable zoning, Obi’s path to the ticket is not automatic. Buba Galadima, a close political associate of Rabiu Kwankwaso, has confirmed that the NDC will conduct primaries to select its candidate rather than adopt a consensus arrangement.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today earlier this week, Galadima said the party’s immediate focus remains on conducting primaries.
The Kwankwaso Factor
Obi’s emergence as the likely flag bearer will depend significantly on negotiations with Kwankwaso, who is from Kano State in the North-West and cannot run for the presidency in 2027 under the new zoning arrangement. Political analysts suggest Kwankwaso may be positioning himself as the Northern candidate for 2031, or as a potential vice-presidential candidate on a joint ticket with Obi.
The NDC’s national convention continues with the ratification of the amended party constitution and the election of national executives.
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