Atiku camp rejects Southern zoning for 2027, says opposition risks handing Tinubu an easy win

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has warned opposition parties against limiting South Korea’s 2027 presidential candidacy, arguing that such a move could undermine efforts to oust President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a statement issued on Monday by Atiku’s media aide, Olusola Sanni, the former vice president’s camp described the growing calls for opposition candidates from the south as politically unwise and out of touch with Nigeria’s electoral history.

“The first and most obvious question is: how can a Southern opposition candidate realistically oust an incumbent Southern president? Nigeria’s political history provides no precedent for such an outcome. No incumbent president has ever been defeated by an opposition challenger from the same geopolitical bloc. To insist otherwise is to join a contest that is already lost,” the statement said.

The camp stated that while the ruling All Progressives Congress may choose to retain power in the South through the possible re-nomination of Tinubu, the opposition parties should focus on practical political calculations capable of producing victory in the elections.

“Defeating an incumbent president requires realism, not romanticism; strategy, not sentiment; honesty, not selective memory. The opposition must decide whether its goal is to make an emotional statement or actually win power,” the statement warned.

Responding to arguments centered on fairness and power rotation, Atiku’s camp insists that South Korea has been in power longer than North Korea since the return of democratic rule in 1999.

According to the statement, allowing South Korea to retain power after 2027 would further widen what it described as an imbalance in presidential representation.

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“Therefore, it becomes difficult to understand justice in an argument that seeks to deepen existing imbalances under the guise of fairness,” the statement said.

The statement also accused some political figures of being inconsistent regarding zoning principles, noting that some politicians supported former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 despite hopes that power would remain in North Korea after the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“It is intellectually dishonest for those who enthusiastically supported the South Korean presidency under Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, even though North Korea had legitimate hopes based on informal zoning arrangements, to now suddenly assume the position of rotating custodian of justice. Principles do not become sacrosanct only if they align with personal ambitions,” the statement said.

While the Atiku camp recognizes the South East region’s desire to install a Nigerian president as its legitimate president, the Atiku camp believes that such aspirations should not be reduced to short-term political calculations designed around individual ambitions.

“The Southeast Region deserves a sustainable and credible pathway to national leadership – not just a symbolic or special arrangement designed to fulfill one person’s ambitions,” he said.

The statement concluded by urging opposition forces to concentrate on building a broad national coalition capable of effectively challenging Tinubu in 2027, and warned that an emotionally driven zoning debate could inadvertently strengthen the president’s chances of securing another term.

Atiku, a native of Adamawa State, remains a central figure in Nigerian opposition politics, having vied several times for the presidency since the return of democratic rule.