The political camp of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, issued a stern warning to opposition parties on Monday, cautioning that restricting the 2027 presidential ticket to the South would essentially hand a “free pass” to President Bola Tinubu for a second term.
In a statement released in Abuja, Atiku’s media aide, Olusola Sanni, argued that while the ruling APC is expected to maintain its Southern focus, the opposition must prioritize cold electoral strategy over sentiment.
He maintained that unseating an incumbent president requires a pragmatic national coalition rather than a mirrored geographical configuration.
Central to Sanni’s argument is the historical precedent—or lack thereof—regarding Southern challengers defeating Southern incumbents.
The statement highlighted that no sitting Nigerian president has ever been unseated by a candidate from their own geopolitical bloc, suggesting that an opposition candidate from the South would be at a structural disadvantage.
Sanni noted that politics should be governed by “strategy and electoral calculations,” warning that to ignore these realities is to “enter the contest already defeated.”
The Atiku camp also challenged the moral foundations of the zoning debate, presenting data to argue that a Southern-only ticket would deepen regional power imbalances.
According to the statement, by 2027, the South will have held the presidency for approximately 18 years during the Fourth Republic, compared to just 10 years for the North.
Sanni questioned the “justice” of further extending this disparity under the guise of equity, suggesting that the North has a legitimate claim to balance the scales of national leadership.
Finally, the statement took a swipe at political actors it labeled as hypocrites, specifically those who abandoned zoning principles in 2011 to support former President Goodluck Jonathan but now champion them for 2027.
While acknowledging the South-East’s legitimate aspirations for the presidency, the camp warned against “symbolic tokenism.” They urged the opposition to move past “emotional narratives” and focus on a broad, honest, and realistic pathway to reclaiming power from the incumbent administration.
