Presidency To Atiku: Jettison 2027 Ambition, Respect Power Rotation

* Says north-south zoning principle remains binding

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Presidency on Thursday advised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to jettison any idea to contest the 2027 presidential poll.

It insisted that it is the turn of the South under Nigeria’s established power rotation arrangement to still produce the president next year.

Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, made the advice in a post on his verified X handle, where he criticised Atiku’s renewed presidential ambition as a “self-serving” move that violates the North-South zoning principle.

According to him, Atiku’s position, as expressed during a recent television interview, undermines a political convention that has helped stabilise Nigeria’s democracy since 1999.

Atiku, one of the main contenders for the presidential ticket of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), while speaking during the interview on ARISE TV  Wednesday, said he would be contesting for the office of the president for the last time in 2027.

Onanuga wrote: “This Atiku will never learn,” accusing him of attempting to “disrupt Nigeria’s power rotation arrangement”.

He recalled that during the 2023 election cycle, Atiku, then a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ignored the party’s zoning tradition by contesting to succeed a fellow northerner who had completed two terms in office.

That decision, he stressed, led to internal divisions within the PDP culminating in Atiku’s defeat at the polls.

“His ambition fractured the PDP, leading to his resounding defeat at the polls,” Onanuga said, adding that the former vice-president appears set to “repeat history” in 2027.

He further faulted Atiku’s argument that he is not bound by zoning because, in his view, the South has held power longer than the North since 1999.

Describing the claim as “dubious political arithmetic,” Onanuga argued that the imbalance cited by Atiku was the result of extraordinary circumstances, particularly the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in office, which led to the succession of then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.

He maintained that such an occurrence does not invalidate the informal but widely observed power-sharing arrangement between the two regions.

Onanuga stressed that following the completion of eight years in office by former President Muhammadu Buhari, it is only equitable for President Bola Tinubu, a southerner, to complete his own tenure.

“Since Buhari completed his eight years, Tinubu too must complete his own,” he said.

The presidential spokesman further urged Atiku to “bury the thought of running again”, warning that another attempt at the presidency would end in “spectacular failure”.