Presidency insists Tinubu must serve two terms, tells Atiku to abandon 2027 presidential bid

The Presidency has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his stance on North-South power rotation, insisting President Bola Tinubu must complete two terms in office. In a statement posted on X Thursday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga accused Atiku of advancing a 'self-serving argument' aimed at disrupting Nigeria's informal zoning arrangement. Onanuga said Atiku had earlier ignored the principle in 2023 when he contested the presidency under the PDP despite the expectation that power should shift to the South after former President Muhammadu Buhari's eight-year tenure. According to him, this contributed to divisions within the PDP and his eventual defeat. The presidential aide also faulted Atiku's recent comments that zoning is an internal PDP arrangement not binding nationally, and said the former vice president's claim that the South has spent more years in power since 1999 was misleading. Onanuga argued that the North's shorter period in office was due to the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2010, which led to the succession of then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, and maintained that this development did not invalidate the principle of power rotation between the North and South. The Presidency insisted that having completed eight years in office, Buhari's tenure should be followed by two terms for Tinubu, in line with the zoning convention. Onanuga added that Atiku should drop any plans to contest the 2027 presidential election, stressing that it remains the turn of the South.

Given the Presidency's firm stance on zoning for 2027, how do you assess Atiku's political future and the likelihood of a Southern presidential candidate emerging from the APC or opposition?

SOURCE: https://dailypost.ng/2026/04/16/2027-tinubu-must-complete-eight-years-presidency-slams-atiku/