A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress, Kassim Afegbua, has called on the Northern region to refrain from seeking the presidency in 2027.
Afegbua emphasized that the North should allow the Southern region to complete its eight years in office.
Speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday, Afegbua’s remarks come in the wake of an appeal by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, urging the North not to contest against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.
Afegbua, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, also criticized his former party for abandoning its power rotation principle. He pointed out that the PDP violated its constitutional mandate by awarding the 2023 presidential ticket to a Northern candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
He argued that the North should not pursue the presidency in 2027, reiterating his earlier call for a Southern presidency in 2023. Afegbua explained that the PDP’s decision to nominate Atiku Abubakar had disrupted the political order, as the party failed to adhere to its constitution’s provisions on power rotation.
Afegbua concluded by stating that the South must be allowed to complete its eight years before the presidency can shift to the North.
Afegbua said, “For me, I don’t think the North should bother to discuss 2027 for power to be ceded to them.
“If you recall, one of the reasons I canvassed for a Southern presidency in 2023 was because Alhaji Atiku Abubakar decided to change the political narrative of the PDP.
“Article 7 of its own constitution, Section C, stipulates that there should be a rotation of power.
“In an effort to railroad the polity into presenting an Atiku, seeing him as someone who can defeat the APC, they decided to package him, and since then, the centre cannot hold up to now.
“So, when you have that kind of scenario, where a party is not able to follow the normative order of its own constitution by virtue of its own provisions, then you have this kind of scenario of trying to push the political algorithms.
“The South must be made to complete its eight years, then power would now go to the North.”
