2027: Atiku’s presidential ambition tests Nigeria’s zoning tradition -Sambo

By Lateef Ibrahim

The Director of News at Arise Television, Sumner Sambo, has argued that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s decision to seek the presidency in 2027, despite the prevailing zoning convention, could spark a broader debate on constitutional democracy and merit-based leadership.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Monday, monitored in Abuja, Sambo maintained that Nigeria’s Constitution permits any eligible citizen to contest for the presidency, stressing that the principle of zoning is a political understanding rather than a constitutional requirement.
He said Atiku’s decision to emerge as a leading northern presidential aspirant at a time many believe power should remain in the South would challenge existing political assumptions and encourage a stronger democratic culture.
According to Sambo, elections should be determined by merit rather than informal rotational arrangements, arguing that the zoning convention has made some politicians complacent by encouraging them to wait for their region’s turn instead of building broad national appeal.
He further noted that Nigeria has not implemented rotational presidency in the manner proposed by the late former Vice President Alex Ekwueme during the 1995 Constitutional Conference, which recommended rotation among the six geopolitical zones before eventually returning to a purely merit-based system.
Sambo added that the country still requires comprehensive political reforms, insisting that the debate over zoning should be viewed within the broader context of strengthening Nigeria’s democratic institutions.