Why Atiku can’t be president in 2027 – Okupe
Former spokesperson and Director-General of Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has stated that the South, not the North, should produce Nigeria’s president in 2027.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos, Okupe argued that geopolitical considerations make it unfair for the North to reclaim the presidency after President Bola Tinubu’s tenure.
Okupe acknowledged that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is eminently qualified to run in 2027.
However, he contended that Atiku’s candidacy would face the same challenges as in 2023 when his bid was perceived as disrupting the North-South power rotation.
The ex-presidential spokesman said the problem with the idea of Atiku’s presidency in 2027 is geopolitics, not age, adding that the South should be allowed to complete its eight-year term, just as the North did before Tinubu’s coming.
Okupe said, “Atiku failed in 2023, not because he was not a good person, but because people felt that a northern Muslim cannot succeed another northern Muslim after eight years.
“If Atiku still contests in 2027, he has a right. He is eminently qualified and one of the best we have, but geopolitics is an issue.
“The conditionality still persists, a Southerner would have just completed four years and needs another four-year term.
“It’s not in the constitution, but we agree that when a Northerner does his eight years, a Southerner will do.
“So, the North cannot now terminate the tenure of the South in 2027. It is not going to work.”
The ex-LP chieftain said Peter Obi, the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party could also vie for the highest office in the country in 2027 as a southerner.
He, however, said it would be difficult for Obi to dislodge Tinubu as the President.
“Obi can contest. Obi is a young man, very dynamic and very ambitious; but geopolitics is important in a country that has not achieved horizontal and vertical unity.
“The person who is occupying the place right now, Tinubu, is also a Southerner, who is doing well.
“We can see what this gentleman (Tinubu) is doing. I wish Obi luck, but it is going to be an uphill task,” he said.
On whether alliances of politicians and parties could unseat Tinubu in 2027, Okupe said he did not see any political gang-up working against the president.
According to him, alliances against Tinubu will fail because the participants will not be willing to give concessions.
Okupe stated, “I have been in this game for 40 years and above. I came into politics in 1978. I have been in several talks, and discussions and I have represented my party, and my movement in several alliances.
“We have not attained that maturity to get to the level of being rational and reasonable and ready to give the necessary concession for a group interest. We are not there yet.
“Even if you look at our private businesses, go and check, 90 per cent of business partnerships will crumble within the first three years.
“I wish those who are trying alliance, I wish them luck but it is going to end up the same way it has always ended up. All the alliances will end up in futility.”
On the alliance that brought ex-President Buhari in 2015, Okupe said that though he criticised the alliance, the leader of the alliance, Tinubu, conceded everything to make it work.
“The man who spearheaded that alliance has grown beyond this constitution of naivety and selfishness.
“You put up an alliance, you set up a dining table, you cook food, and say other people should go and eat it. It is not done anywhere.
“Everything, he conceded, so that the thing could work,” he said.
He expressed doubt in the readiness and willingness of opposition leaders such as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Peter Obi (LP), and Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, mulling an alliance against Tinubu in 2027, to concede for one another.
“If you look at it very well, that kind of maturity does not exist,” Okupe added.
