In response to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s recent comments about Nigeria’s power rotation arrangement, Special Advisor to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga has harshly criticized Abubakar. Ahead of the 2027 general elections, Onanuga issued a forceful statement accusing Atiku of trying to subvert the established North-South formula in order to further his own political agenda.
Atiku’s Wednesday interview on Arise TV, in which the former vice president contended that he is not constrained by the rotation principle because the South has theoretically held power for more years than the North since 1999, set off the presidency’s response.
Onanuga dismissed this logic as “dubious arithmetic,” noting that the North’s shorter tenure was a result of the untimely death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, an “accidental breach” that does not invalidate the broader agreement.
Onanuga warned that Atiku, whom he labeled a “perennial candidate,” is poised to repeat the strategic blunders that led to his loss in 2023. Regarding the 2023 precedent,
Onanuga recalled that Atiku’s decision to run, attempting to succeed a fellow Northerner after an eight-year term, disregarded the PDP’s own zoning policy, fractured the party, and ultimately led to his defeat.
As for 2027, the presidential aide suggested that history is set to repeat itself, stating that another spectacular failure awaits this candidate in the next election. He emphasized the necessity of the southern turn, noting that because former President Muhammadu Buhari completed an eight-year term for the North, President Bola Tinubu is entitled to complete his own, ensuring that 2027 remains the turn of the South.
He wrote, “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