Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has blasted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his recent remarks about Nigeria’s power rotation mechanism.
In a strongly worded statement, Onanuga accused Atiku of aiming to undermine the established North-South power rotation mechanism ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
He stated that in 2023, Atiku, as a PDP presidential candidate, ignored the party’s zoning policy by running to succeed a fellow northerner after eight years in office, contributing to the party’s internal conflict and his eventual defeat at the polls.
Onanuga called Atiku a “perennial candidate” who might lose again in 2027 and cautioned that he runs the risk of making the same error twice.
Onanuga responded to Atiku’s interview on Arise TV on Wednesday by calling the former vice president’s claim that the South has held greater power since 1999 “dubious” and self-serving.
He noted that the North’s shorter tenure was due to the untimely death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, which led to Goodluck Jonathan’s ascension to the presidency.
He urged Atiku to “bury the thought of running again” and respect the power rotation principle.
According to him: “Once again, Abubakar Atiku has put forward a self-serving argument to justify his attempt to disrupt Nigeria’s power rotation arrangement. In 2023, as a member of the PDP—a party that, like others, practices zoning—Atiku disregarded the established formula and sought to succeed a fellow northerner, who had spent eight years in office.
“His ambition fractured the PDP, leading to his resounding defeat at the polls. Now, he stands poised to repeat history and face another doom. Another spectacular failure awaits this perennial candidate in the next election.
“In his interview with Charles Aniagolu on Wednesday, Atiku, now sounding like the presumed ADC candidate (Peter Obi, get ready to bolt away), revisited his 2023 argument on the North-South power rotation.
“In a brazenly self-serving twist, he insisted he is not bound by the rotation formula because, according to him, the South has spent more years in office than the North since 1999. His political arithmetic is dubious.
“He conveniently overlooks the fact that the North’s shorter tenure was due to the untimely death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, which led to President Jonathan’s succession. This accidental breach does not invalidate the power rotation arrangement between the North and the South.
“Since Buhari completed his eight years, Tinubu too must complete his own. All Atiku needs to do is to bury the thought of running again, as it is still the South’s turn in the 2027 election.”
