Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, has expressed concern that the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s breach of zoning is fueling political tensions in Northern Nigeria and, by extension, nationwide.
Okechukwu said Atiku's action has vindicated advocates of Nigeria’s power-rotation and zoning convention.
In a statement he signed, Okechukwu appealed to Northerners to avoid the danger of ethno-identity politics over the ambition of one man and his cohorts, noting that countries like Sudan are yet to recover from ethnic rivalry.
"The South, he quipped, has other presidential candidates and truly Atiku and Tinubu are ten and ten pence going by their antecedents," he said.
He lamented that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is yet to recover from Atiku’s breach of zoning in the 2023 presidential election, contending that the 2027 contest would have been less acrimonious if the ADC had respected the principle of presidential power rotation and presented a southern candidate.
Okechukwu reminded Nigerians how "patriots such as Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma, and Drs Sola Saraki, Alex Ekwueme, and Ogbonnaya Onu saved Nigeria in 1999 from ethno-identity politics by subordinating their personal presidential ambitions to broader national unity.
“Zoning advocates have consistently maintained that presidential power rotation is a vital instrument for managing Nigeria’s diversity.
"The current political tension demonstrates why zoning convention should not be treated as an expendable item, merely to accommodate an individual’s presidential ambition, especially when he has no concrete solution to our economic quagmire," Okechukwu said.
He cited the "peaceful nature of the 1999, 2007 and 2019 presidential elections of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo vs Chief Olu Falae, Muhammadu Buhari vs Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari vs Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, all living testimony of how rotation convention undoubtedly sustained national balance."
He expressed concern over reports that security personnel are deployed to protect campaign posters and billboards of presidential candidates, describing the situation as a troubling development.
Noting the high opportunity cost of deploying security officials to political duties when there are myriads of kidnappings, armed robberies, the farmer-herder crisis and sundry insurgencies unattended, Okechukwu called on Atiku’s supporters and other political stakeholders to stop framing the 2027 presidential contest as a zero-sum game between North and South, as such rhetoric could deepen ethnic divisions and may inadvertently place Nigeria's fledgling democracy in harm's way.
2027: Atiku's breach of zoning fueling political tension in North - Osita Okechukwu