Atiku’s victory in 2027 will end rotational presidency – Shehu Sani
Senator Shehu Sani has warned that if former Vice President Atiku Abubakar wins the January 16, 2027 presidential election, it could signal the end of rotational presidency in Nigeria.
“If Atiku wins, it means that is the end of rotational presidency in Nigeria, and there is going to be hard and bitter feelings from the southern part of Nigeria,” the former Kaduna Central senator said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
“I don’t think anyone will like to preside over a country full of hate, animosity, and conflict. Right now, the political system is managing a lot of crises.”
“I don’t think a northerner taking over power here will come in with ease and conveniently to the people in the southern part of Nigeria. But if we allow the South to have their eight years, by 2031, a northerner takes over, there will be no challenge from southern Nigeria. That is my own view,” he noted.
Sani, however, acknowledged that the Nigerian Constitution does not bar Atiku or any other northerner from contesting the presidency.
“I never said Atiku should not run. Constitutionally, he has a right to run for any election, but what I said was that a southern part of Nigeria should be allowed to have its eight-year tenure in office, just like the way the North has from 2015 to 2023,” he said.
“The NDC should field Peter Obi, the APM should field Makinde, let the South struggle it out and see who wins for four years. And when the tenure is done by 2031, the North should have its unchallengeable opportunity to produce the leadership of the country.
“You cannot say that because you have the largest electorate and population, so you should continue dominating politics,” Sani said.
Rotational presidency is an informal political arrangement, rather than a constitutional requirement, under which political parties may zone their presidential tickets between the northern and southern parts of Nigeria.
