The Presidency has cautioned former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, against pursuing another bid for the presidency in 2027, urging him to reconsider any such ambition.
It maintained that, in line with Nigeria’s long-standing power rotation understanding, the presidency should remain in the South for now.
The position was made public by presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, who expressed his views via his verified X (formerly Twitter) account. In the post, he described Atiku’s renewed interest in the presidency as “self-serving” and at odds with the North-South zoning tradition.
Onanuga argued that Atiku’s stance—recently stated during a television appearance—runs contrary to a political convention that has contributed to relative stability in Nigeria’s democratic journey since 1999.
The former vice-president, a leading aspirant within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), had disclosed during an interview on ARISE TV that he intends to contest the 2027 presidential election, which he described as his final attempt.
Reacting, Onanuga accused Atiku of attempting to undermine the established rotation principle, recalling that in the 2023 elections, Atiku—then flying the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—contested despite calls for power to shift southward after the tenure of a northern president.
According to him, that decision deepened divisions within the PDP and ultimately weakened the party’s chances at the polls.
He further dismissed Atiku’s argument that zoning should not apply, particularly his claim that the South has held power longer than the North since 1999. Onanuga described the reasoning as flawed, noting that such calculations fail to account for exceptional events like the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, which led to the succession of his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan.
According to the Presidency, such circumstances do not invalidate the informal but widely respected rotational understanding between the regions.
Onanuga insisted that, following the completion of two terms by former President Muhammadu Buhari, it is only fair for the current president, Bola Tinubu, to serve out his tenure.
He concluded by advising Atiku to drop any plans of recontesting, warning that another attempt could end in what he described as a “spectacular failure.”
