Fielding a Southerner against Tinubu is a guaranteed loss, Atiku tells opposition

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned opposition parties that zoning the 2027 presidential ticket to the South would effectively hand victory to President Bola Tinubu, arguing that such a strategy lacks historical precedent and political viability.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned opposition political actors that pushing for the 2027 presidential ticket to be zoned to the South would be self-defeating and could guarantee the re-election of President Bola Tinubu. In a statement released by his camp, Atiku argued that fielding a southern opposition candidate against a southern incumbent is historically unrealistic and strategically flawed. “At the core of the question is: how does a Southern opposition candidate realistically unseat a sitting Southern president?” the statement read. “Nigerian political history offers no precedent for such an outcome. To insist otherwise is to enter the contest already defeated.” The former Vice President suggested that if the opposition insists on this path, they might as well allow Tinubu to run unopposed, as the move would lack the necessary viability to secure a win.

The statement further criticized the push for Southern zoning as “intellectually dishonest,” describing it as a reactionary decision that ignores the current political landscape. Atiku’s camp rejected the argument of equity often cited by proponents, noting that by 2027, the South will have held presidential power for 18 years compared to only 10 years for the North. “It becomes difficult to understand the justice in an argument that seeks to deepen an already existing imbalance under the guise of equity,” the statement noted. Additionally, his camp reminded critics of their support for a Southern presidency in 2011 under Goodluck Jonathan, asserting, “It is intellectually dishonest for those who supported a Southern presidency in 2011 to now posture as custodians of rotational justice.”

Ultimately, Atiku urged the opposition to choose between making a symbolic political statement or achieving an actual victory at the polls. While affirming the Southeast’s legitimate aspirations to produce a president, his camp criticized what they termed “transactional political bargaining” or “symbolic tokenism” aimed at serving individual ambitions rather than creating a sustainable path for the region. The statement concluded by emphasizing the need for hard-nosed strategy over sentiment: “Defeating an incumbent president requires realism, not romanticism; strategy, not sentiment; honesty, not selective memory.”

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