Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has faulted Minister of Works David Umahi over his declaration that “it is not yet the turn of the South-East” to produce Nigeria’s president in 2027.

Umahi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday, urged South-East politicians to drop their presidential ambitions and rally behind President Bola Tinubu for re-election.

Reacting through his media aide and National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko, Obi said only the electorate — not political elites — have the power to decide who becomes president.

“It is a democratic setting, and it is the people who will decide who becomes the next president, not any individual,” Obi told The PUNCH in an exclusive phone interview. “Performance and track record will determine what the people want. That is how it should be.”

He added that while the debate over regional rotation should not ordinarily dominate politics, it had become the reality in Nigeria.

“Ordinarily, we shouldn’t be having talks about whether it should be a southern or northern candidate,” Obi said. “But since it has already been established for the unity of this country, the status quo should remain.”

Umahi had earlier said Tinubu should be allowed to complete his constitutionally permitted eight years in office before the South-East can aspire to the presidency.

“No, it is not our time yet,” Umahi said. “We, the 17 southern governors, met in Asaba before the 2023 election and agreed that the next president should come from the South. The crown came upon President Bola Tinubu. He has to finish his eight years, which belong to all of us — both South and North. After 2031, the South-East can vie.”

The former Ebonyi State governor argued that Tinubu’s administration had been fair to all parts of the country, particularly the South-East, citing multi-billion-naira infrastructure projects underway in the region, including the Enugu–Onitsha Road, Port Harcourt–Aba–Umuahia–Enugu Dual Carriageway, and the Abakaliki–Benue Boundary Trans-Sahara Road.

“Right now, President Bola Tinubu does not want to know where you come from. He is treating everybody very nicely,” Umahi said, urging the region to appreciate the President’s gesture rather than agitate for power.

Umahi’s comments have reignited debate over Nigeria’s zoning and power rotation arrangement.

Since 1999, the South-East has not produced a president, fueling persistent calls for equity and inclusion.

Obi’s reaction reflects growing sentiment among opposition figures that the 2027 contest should be decided by voters, not elite consensus or political coercion.