Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned that opposition parties in Nigeria are making a strategic error by zoning their 2027 presidential ticket exclusively to the South. In a statement released by his media aide, Olusola Sanni, Atiku argued that such a move is not only politically naive but also ignores historical electoral realities.
Atiku pointed out that no sitting president has ever been defeated by a challenger from the same geopolitical zone. With President Bola Tinubu—a Southerner—seeking re-election, fielding another Southern candidate would be futile. He stressed that the opposition must base its decisions on hard arithmetic and coalition-building, not emotional appeals or moral posturing.
The former vice president also challenged the equity arguments behind the zoning demand. He noted that by 2027, the South would have held the presidency for about 18 years in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, compared to the North’s 10 years. Allowing the South to retain power for another term would further widen this imbalance, making calls for fairness ring hollow.
Atiku criticized political actors who now champion zoning but abandoned the principle in 2011 when the North’s turn was interrupted by President Yar’Adua’s death. He described their sudden embrace of rotational justice as selective and opportunistic, driven by personal ambition rather than genuine commitment to fairness.
While acknowledging the legitimate aspirations of the Southeast to produce a president, Atiku cautioned against reducing this to transactional bargaining. He called for a sustainable and credible pathway to national leadership for the region, free from tokenism or individual interests.
In conclusion, Atiku urged the opposition to focus on building a formidable national coalition capable of defeating an incumbent. He emphasized that winning power requires realism, strategy, and honesty—not romanticism or selective memory. The choice, he said, is between making an emotional statement and actually winning the election.
