African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential aspirant Alhaji Atiku Abubakar yesterday faulted the zoning of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential ticket to the South.
He described the move as a setback to plans by opposition parties to displace President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The former Vice President said the zoning, which is meant to solely benefit an individual, is a strategy that could weaken the efforts to unseat the ruling party.
Atiku said in a statement by his media aide, Olusola Sanni, that presenting another southern candidate against President Tinubu, who is from the South, would place the opposition at a disadvantage ahead of the elections.
It was the first time Atiku would directly react to the zoning of the presidential ticket to the South by the NDC.
It is believed that the party, led by Senator Seriake Dickson, adopted the zoning formula to accommodate the presidential ambition of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi in 2027.
Under the arrangement, the one-term presidential ticket is zoned to the South with the understanding that power will shift to the North in 2031.
According to the permutations, former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso is expected to be the running mate to Obi, who is most likely to be tipped for the NDC presidential ticket.
Obi, who defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the ADC in December, suddenly left for the NDC two weeks ago, having realised that the ADC ticket may elude him at the primary.
While in ADC, his camp Obidient Movement had threatned that Obi would not accept anything less than the presidential ticket, warning that ADC would lose if he was not fielded as a candidate.
His defection from ADC to the NDC, along with Kwankwaso and other supporters, jolted the Atiku camp in the ADC from the delusion of a coalition made up of key opposition leaders.
Atiku said Nigeria’s electoral history does not support the idea of an opposition challenger from the same geo-political zone defeating a sitting president.
He said: “It is important to ask how a southern opposition candidate can realistically defeat a southern incumbent president.
“No such electoral outcome had occurred in the country’s political history.”
He maintained that while the ruling Bola Tinubu-led administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) may choose to retain power within the South, the opposition must approach the contest with a more strategic calculation rather than relying on sentiment or symbolic considerations.
He said defeating an incumbent President requires broad political realism and coalition-building, warning that emotional appeals around zoning could undermine the opposition’s chances in 2027.
He also rejected claims that fairness demands that there should be another southern presidency, noting that by 2027, the South would have occupied the presidency for about 18 years in the Fourth Republic, compared to about 10 years for the North.
Atiku said extending southern occupancy of the presidency by another four years would further widen the imbalance rather than address it.
He accused some political actors of inconsistency over zoning, recalling that the principle was effectively set aside in 2011 after the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, when many northern politicians backed former President Goodluck Jonathan despite expectations that power should remain in the North.
He said: “It is contradictory for individuals who supported a southern presidency at that time to now present zoning as an inviolable principle.”
Acknowledging the legitimate aspiration of the Southeast to produce a president, Atiku said such ambitions should come through a broader and sustainable political process rather than temporary arrangements tailored to individual interests.
He urged opposition leaders to focus on building a viable national alliance capable of challenging the incumbent administration.
He warned that prolonged arguments over zoning could inadvertently strengthen the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general election.
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