Atiku’s aide makes case for North’s return to power in 2027

Paul Ibe, an aide to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has made a case for the return of power to the North in 2027.

The South currently occupies the seat of power with President Bola Tinubu who defeated Atiku, a northerner, in the 2023 presidential election.

Tinubu succeeded former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner who served eight years.

Despite the expectation that the South should be allowed to enjoy the seat of power for eight years as the North did, Ibe believes such would only mean unfairness to the North.

He said this in reaction to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, who advised Atiku and other northerners nursing presidential ambitions to shift the idea to 2031.

Ibe shared on X, “Where, then, does true equity and fairness reside? By the year 2027, the South will have enjoyed 17 years of leadership — eight years under Obasanjo, five years under Jonathan, and four years under Tinubu — while the North will have experienced only 11 years, with Yar’Adua serving three and Buhari eight. This results in a disparity of six years between the North and South, casting a shadow over the balance of power.”

He reminded concerned parties that the power to elect and vote out any government lies firmly with the Nigerian people, adding that the government should prove itself worthy of the people’s ballot.

“But has the Tinubu government demonstrated that it deserves to be re-elected? The answer, alas, is as clear as the heavens themselves — God forbid!” he concluded.