The Presidency has strongly criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for questioning Nigeria’s long-standing power rotation arrangement, which is expected to allow President Bola Tinubu to serve a full eight-year term.
The rebuke came after Atiku, during an appearance on Arise TV Prime Time on Wednesday, argued that the South had governed the country for 18 years since 1999, compared to the North’s 10 years.
“So, who’s in a deficit if we’re being fair?” Atiku asked, while dismissing the zoning principle as an error observed mainly by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting sharply, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku had failed to learn from history.
Onanuga recalled that in 2023, Atiku, as a PDP member, ignored the party’s zoning arrangement by seeking to succeed a fellow Northerner after eight years in office.
This decision, he said, fractured the PDP and led to Atiku’s heavy defeat in the presidential election.
“He now appears ready to repeat the same mistake and suffer another spectacular failure,” Onanuga warned.
The presidential spokesman noted that Atiku’s comments on Arise TV made him sound like the presumptive candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and urged Labour Party’s Peter Obi to prepare to “bolt away” from any alliance.
Onanuga described Atiku’s arithmetic on power rotation as “dubious,” pointing out that the North’s shorter tenure resulted from the untimely death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, which allowed then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to complete the term.
He stressed that this “accidental breach” does not cancel the North-South power rotation understanding.
With former President Muhammadu Buhari having completed eight years, it remains the South’s turn, and Tinubu must be allowed to serve his full term.
“All Atiku needs to do is bury the thought of running again,” Onanuga added. “It is still the South’s turn in 2027.”
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