Zoning principle against Atiku becoming President in 2027- Okupe

By Musa Baba Adamu

A former Director-General of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, says the South, and not the North, should produce the President in 2027.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Lagos, Okupe said it was only fair to allow the South to produce the next President.
Okupe said though Atiku Abubakar,the PDP presidential candidate in 2023, was eminently qualified to contest in 2027, he does not think it was right for the PDP chieftain to be president.
The ex-presidential spokesman said the problem with the idea of Atiku presidency in 2027 is geopolitics, not age, adding the South should be allowed to complete its eight-year term, just as the North did before the coming of President Bola Tinubu.
“Atiku failed in 2023, not because he was not a good person, but because people felt that a northern Muslim cannot succeed another northern Muslim after eight years.
“If Atiku still contests in 2027, he has a right. He is eminently qualified and one of the best we have, but geopolitics is an issue.
“The conditionality still persists; a southerner would have just completed four years and needs another four-year term.
“It’s not in the constitution, but we agree that when a northerner does his eight years, a southerner will do.
“So, the North cannot now terminate the tenure of the South in 2027. It is not going to work,” Okupe said.
The ex-LP chieftain said Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, could also vie for the highest office in the country in 2027, as a southerner.
He, however, said it would be very difficult for Obi to dislodge Tinubu as the President.
On whether alliances of politicians and parties could unseat Tinubu in 2027, Okupe said he did not see any political gang-up working against the President.
According to him, alliances against Tinubu will fail because the participants will not be willing to give concessions .
On the alliance that brought ex-President Buhari in 2015, Okupe said that though he criticised the alliance, but the leader of the alliance, Tinubu, conceded everything to make it work.
He expressed doubt in the readiness and willingness of opposition leaders such as Atiku Abubakar, PDP, Peter Obi, LP, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, NNPP, mulling alliance against Tinubu in 2027, to concede for one another.He accused the group of trying to “lump everything together to create a make-belief in the eyes of the public”.
Mr Ogundipe reiterated that the Assembly had grown beyond the common standards of excellence, and that residents would continue to work in harmony for the peace, progress and development of the state.