A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Mr Osita Okechukwu has called on citizens and political leaders in Northern Nigeria to reject the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He warned that Atiku’s candidacy violates the power-rotation convention and is directly driving political tension across the region.
In a statement on Sunday in Abuja the APC chieftain appealed directly to northern voters to avoid falling into the trap of ethno-identity politics engineered to serve individual ambitions.
Drawing a grave comparison Okechukwu cautioned that nations such as Sudan are still struggling to recover from the devastating consequences of unbridled ethnic rivalries.
Dismissing the premise of Atiku’s contest Okechukwu quipped ‘The South has other presidential candidates and truly Atiku and Tinubu are ten and ten pence going by their antecedents.’
The former VON boss lamented that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to recover from the political damage caused when Atiku breached the zoning principle during the 2023 general election.
He contended that the build-up to the 2027 presidential contest would have been far less acrimonious if the ADC had respected the power-rotation tradition by fielding a southern candidate instead of reopening regional fault lines.
To underscore the importance of putting national cohesion above personal interests Okechukwu reminded northern voters of regional politicians who previously sacrificed their presidential ambitions for peace and stability.
‘Patriots such as Alhajis Abubakar Rimi Umaru Shinkafi Adamu Ciroma and Drs Sola Saraki Alex Ekwueme Ogbonnaya Onu et al. saved us in 1999 from ethno-identity politics by subordinating their personal presidential ambitions to broader national unity’ Okechukwu noted.
He emphasised that presidential power rotation remains an irreplaceable mechanism for keeping Nigeria balanced and united insisting it must not be discarded for individual gain.
‘Zoning advocates have consistently maintained that presidential power rotation is a vital instrument for managing Nigeria’s diversity. The current political tension shows why zoning convention should not be treated as expendable merely to accommodate an individual’s presidential ambition. Moreover when he has no concrete solution to our economic quagmire’ he asserted.
Okechukwu recalled that presidential contests grounded in regional equity-such as Olusegun Obasanjo vs Olu Falae in 1999 Umaru Musa Yar’Adua vs Muhammadu Buhari in 2007 and Muhammadu Buhari vs Atiku Abubakar in 2019-demonstrated how rotation sustains national equilibrium and prevents political conflict.
The APC chieftain also pointed to the disturbing security fallout from mounting political friction in the North. He raised concerns over reports that state security agents are being assigned to protect campaign billboards and posters of presidential candidates while core security threats remain unattended.
He decried the high opportunity cost of deploying security personnel to safeguard political materials at a time when the country continues to confront widespread kidnappings armed robbery banditry farmer-herder conflicts and insurgency.
Okechukwu then urged Atiku’s supporters and political actors to cease framing the 2027 contest as an all-or-nothing conflict between North and South warning that such divisive tactics endanger Nigeria’s democracy.
‘Stop framing the 2027 presidential contest as a zero-sum game between North and South; such rhetoric could deepen ethnic divisions and may inadvertently place our fledgling democracy in harm’s way’ Okechukwu warned.