Dr. Doyin Okupe, former Director-General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, has advocated for the South to produce Nigeria’s president in 2027.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos, Okupe emphasized that fairness dictates that the presidency should remain in the South, following the established rotation between regions.
Okupe acknowledged that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in 2023, is highly qualified for the role but argued that geopolitical considerations make his candidacy problematic for 2027. He stated that the South should be allowed to complete an eight-year tenure, just as the North had before the current administration.
He explained that Atiku’s loss in the 2023 presidential election was not due to a lack of competence but rather because voters rejected the idea of a northern Muslim succeeding another northern Muslim after eight years. Okupe noted that the same sentiment would make Atiku’s potential bid in 2027 challenging, as a southerner would have only served four years under the current administration and would still require another term to balance the perceived regional equity.
Okupe further argued that the informal agreement of alternating power between the North and the South, while not constitutional, has become a widely accepted norm in Nigerian politics. “The North cannot terminate the South’s tenure in 2027. It’s not going to work,” he said.
Regarding Labour Party’s Peter Obi, Okupe affirmed that Obi, as a southerner, has the right to contest again in 2027. However, he expressed doubts about Obi’s ability to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that it would be a formidable task.
On the possibility of alliances among opposition parties to challenge Tinubu in 2027, Okupe dismissed the likelihood of success, citing a lack of willingness among opposition leaders to make necessary concessions. He compared the situation to the 2015 alliance that brought former President Muhammadu Buhari to power, crediting Tinubu’s leadership at the time for making significant sacrifices to ensure the alliance worked.
Okupe expressed skepticism that political figures such as Atiku, Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) would be prepared to concede their ambitions for the collective goal of defeating Tinubu in 2027. Without such unity, Okupe believes any opposition alliance would be doomed to fail.
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