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The former Senior Special Assistant to ex-Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, has asserted that the concept of a rotational presidency is now firmly established in Nigeria.
He emphasized that it would be challenging and an anomaly to reverse the trend of a Southern presidency in 2027.
Naija News reports that Akande made these remarks while speaking with journalists on Sunday in Lagos.
He characterized discussions regarding political alliances and efforts to shift power back to the North in 2027 as trivial, indicating that such strategies are unlikely to succeed.
Regarding the potential for opposition parties to unite against the ruling APC in 2027, Akande expressed skepticism, suggesting that such mergers would not effectively address the nation’s challenges.
“I think it is just child’s play to terminate Southern presidency in 2027. Nigeria has gone past that.
“The South is going to get its eight years. The North will get the next eight years.
“Politicians are just going to make noise. It is not going to be possible, really, to terminate the Southern term.
“Rotational presidency has come to stay in Nigeria. There is a national consensus around the idea of a rotational presidency between the South and the North.
“Anybody trying to reverse that is just joking. It’s not going to work. All of these political mergers are not going to solve the problems of Nigeria.
“In 2014, there was a merger that led to the APC. There were a lot of expectations in this country. APC carried the national wave. Nine years after, where are we?
“We are nowhere different from where we were then because the core issues have been left unaddressed. So all of these mergers, even if they (proponents) succeed, what is going to happen is that they will just change the characters of people in the Government House.
“We need to understand that there are fundamental problems that have to be sorted out, and we cannot leave it to politicians,” Akande said.
He urged Nigerians to come together in the face of shared challenges, emphasizing that it is the politicians who are reaping the rewards of the current system.
He stated that, in preparation for the 2027 elections, Nigerians should engage in conversations focused on achieving a national consensus regarding the rule of law, combating poverty and corruption, addressing local government autonomy, restructuring, and constitutional matters.
