The remark lands as Nigeria's ruling and opposition camps begin positioning for an election still more than a year away. Momodu's comments, made on a national breakfast program, set a marker for the kind of accountability debate likely to dominate the campaign.

Momodu, national chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, made the comments Monday on Channels Television's Sunrise Daily. His central argument was simple. Performance, not personality, should decide the 2027 race.

"The 2027 election will not be difficult for Tinubu if he can show the records of his performance," Momodu said on the program. "Nobody hates him personally. Nobody wants to pick him out because they just don't like him. It is about performance."

He went further, telling APC officials directly to change their messaging. "Present your scorecards," he said. "So the people running around spreading hellfire, calm down and spread that energy on showing the performance of APC."

Momodu's sharpest line targeted the ruling party's own rhetoric. He accused APC officials of undermining their own legitimacy by blaming the immediate past federal administration for the country's economic troubles.

"What we see is APC abusing itself and its predecessors, saying they inherited a useless government and economy," Momodu said. "I have never seen a place where a party destroys its own predecessors like APC."

He then posed a direct challenge to the president. "Now, let's assume President Tinubu inherited a bad government," Momodu said. "What has he done to change the direction of his predecessor and change the lives of the people?"

The question was rhetorical in delivery but pointed in intent. It shifts the burden of proof onto Tinubu's administration to produce results, not explanations, before voters return to the polls.

Momodu did not stop at the ruling party. He also addressed a rift within the opposition, between former vice president Atiku Abubakar and former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo had called selecting Atiku as his running mate the greatest mistake of his presidency. Momodu rejected that framing. He claimed Obasanjo's real motive is blocking Atiku's path to the presidency.

That defense is not incidental. Momodu is a known ally of Atiku, who is among the declared candidates for the 2027 presidential race. His comments on Sunrise Daily came as part of a broader defense of Atiku's standing within opposition politics, not as a detached commentary on APC governance alone.

The political stakes extend beyond the two men. Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress is also on the 2027 ballot, positioning the race as at least a three-way contest among Tinubu, Atiku and Obi, according to the program's framing of the candidates.

Momodu's remarks did not include specific economic data, inflation figures, or policy citations to support his call for a "scorecard." His argument rested on the demand that such a record be produced and presented to voters, rather than on an independent accounting of what that record shows.

Nothing in the broadcast indicated whether APC officials had responded to Momodu's characterization of the party's messaging as self-destructive. Nor did the program indicate whether Tinubu's camp had addressed the specific challenge to detail policy accomplishments since taking office.

The dispute between Atiku and Obasanjo adds a second unresolved thread. Obasanjo's original comment, that choosing Atiku as vice president was his greatest mistake, was not aired in full during the segment, only referenced and then rebutted by Momodu. The full context of Obasanjo's remarks, including when and where he made them, was not detailed in the broadcast.

What remains unclear is how APC intends to respond to a direct call from a rival party's national chieftain to abandon predecessor-blaming as a campaign strategy. Also unresolved is whether Atiku's campaign will directly address Obasanjo's "greatest mistake" comment, or leave that response to allies like Momodu speaking on his behalf. With the 2027 election still ahead and multiple candidates already jockeying for position, both threads, the performance question aimed at Tinubu and the rift inside the opposition, are likely to resurface as the campaign calendar advances.