The Presidency has criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his position on the North-South power rotation, saying that President Bola Tinubu must serve two terms in office.
On Thursday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga wrote on X that Atiku was making a “self-serving argument” to try to break up Nigeria’s informal zoning arrangement.
Onanuga said that Atiku had already broken the rule in 2023 when he ran for president under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even though it was expected that power would move to the South after the eight-year term of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died in office.
He said that the move caused problems within the PDP and led to his loss at the polls.
The presidential aide also disagreed with Atiku’s recent statement that zoning is only an internal PDP arrangement and not a national one. He said that the former vice president’s claim that the South has been in power longer since 1999 was not true.
Onanuga said that the North’s time in office was shorter because former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died in 2010, and then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan took over.
He said that this change did not change the idea that power should rotate between the North and the South.
The Presidency said that Tinubu should serve two terms after Buhari’s eight years in office, as is the custom in the zoning system.
Onanuga also said that Atiku should give up his plans to run for president in 2027 because it is still the South’s turn.
“This Atiku will never learn.
He conveniently forgets that the North’s shorter time in office was caused by the untimely death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, which led to President Jonathan taking over.
“This accidental breach does not invalidate the power rotation arrangement between the North and the South.” Buhari finished his eight years, so Tinubu must finish his as well.
“All Atiku needs to do is forget about running again, because the South will have its turn in the 2027 election,” Onanuga said.
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