Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has issued a warning to opposition figures on Monday, asserting that a rigid insistence on zoning the 2027 presidential ticket to the South would essentially concede the election before it begins.
In a statement released by his media aide, Olusola Sanni, the Atiku camp characterized the push for a Southern opposition candidate as both self-defeating and intellectually dishonest.
The statement argued that Nigerian political history lacks any precedent for an opposition challenger successfully unseating an incumbent president from the same geopolitical bloc.
It questioned the strategic realism of such a move, suggesting that the opposition must decide whether its primary goal is to make a sentimental statement or to actually secure power.
Regarding the ongoing debate over equity, the Atiku camp dismissed proponents of Southern zoning by highlighting the current distribution of power.
It noted that by 2027, the South will have held the presidency for approximately 18 years during the Fourth Republic, compared to roughly 10 years for the North.
The statement argued that granting the South another four years would exacerbate rather than resolve this existing imbalance.
He also criticized the selective memory of political figures who abandoned zoning principles in 2011 to support Goodluck Jonathan but now advocate for rotation as a sacred doctrine.
While acknowledging the Southeast’s legitimate aspirations for national leadership, the statement distinguished these goals from transactional bargaining or tokenism intended to serve individual ambitions.