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A member of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Diran Odeyemi, and a chieftain of the Labour Party, Anslem Eragbe, have warned former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, against contesting the 2027 presidential election.
Naija News reports that Eragbe, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, faulted Atiku for contesting the 2023 presidential election because it was the turn of the South to produce a president.
According to him, Atiku, a former Vice President of Nigeria for eight years, knows Nigeria’s power drill and equation, stressing that the 2027 presidency shall remain in southern Nigeria and should be zoned to the South-South region.
Eragbe noted that when compared with other geo-political zones in the country, the South-South had spent the least number of years in the presidential seat.
He further called on the political parties to identify credible politicians, regardless of their financial status, to fly their flags for the various elective offices, stressing that 2027 would be another opportunity to right the wrongs of the past.
He said, “Atiku was not supposed to contest the 2023 presidential election because it was the turn of southern Nigeria. It is the turn of the South till 2031.
“Being a former Vice President of Nigeria for eight years; Atiku knows Nigeria’s power drill and equation. He should support younger Nigerians to power and provide guidance in 2027.
“It should be further micro-zoned to the (defunct) mid-Western region. I mean the defunct Bendel, now Edo and Delta states. We expect the major political parties to do this for equity, justice, fairness and parity.
“However, should President Bola Tinubu, win the 2027 presidential election and continue till 2031, power shall return to Northern Nigeria.
“The region that has ruled the least in Nigeria is the South-South with only five years under Goodluck Jonathan and should rule Nigeria again beginning from 2027.
“When put together, the North-Central spent a total of 17 years and 11 months, North-West, 17 years, three months; North-East, 10 years, three months; South-West, 15 years, four months by the time Tinubu finishes his term in May 2027; South East spent five years and nine months and the South-South, the only region to spend five years only on the presidential seat.”
Similarly, LP chieftain, Odeyemi stated that Atiku’s participation in the 2023 presidential election and his perceived ambitions for 2027 were the causes of the PDP crisis.
He charged Atiku to bury his ambition, adding that once the former vice president failed to declare interest in 2027, the crisis in the party would be over.
He said, “The 2023 election was originally supposed to be between southerners, as former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, had just completed eight years in office. However, Atiku insisted on exercising his rights, which is why there is a crisis in the PDP.”
