Okupe: Atiku can contest in 2027, but south must complete eight years

Doyin Okupe, a former presidential aide, says former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has the right to contest for the country’s highest office in the 2027 general election.

Speaking with NAN on Thursday, Okupe said the main obstacle to Atiku’s potential candidacy lies in the country’s geopolitical dynamics, not his age.

He noted that Nigeria’s informal power-sharing arrangement would favour a candidate from the south in 2027.

“Atiku failed in 2023, not because he was not a good person, but because people felt that a northern Muslim could not succeed another northern Muslim after eight years,” Okupe said.

“If Atiku still contests in 2027, he has a right. He is eminently qualified and one of the best we have, but geopolitics is an issue. The conditionality persists, a southerner would have just completed four years and needs another four-year term.

“It’s not in the constitution, but we agree that when a northerner does his eight years, a southerner will do. So, the north cannot now terminate the tenure of the south in 2027. It is not going to work.”

Okupe also weighed in on Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, describing him as a strong contender.

He added that it would be difficult for Obi to dislodge Tinubu as the president in the 2027 presidential election.

“Obi can contest. Obi is a young man, very dynamic and very ambitious; but geopolitics is important in a country that has not achieved horizontal and vertical unity,” he said.

“The person who is occupying the place right now, Tinubu, is also a southerner, who is doing well. We can see what this gentleman (Tinubu) is doing. I wish Obi luck, but it is going to be an uphill task.”