Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and APC foundation member, Mr Osita Okechukwu, has expressed concern that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s breach of zoning is fuelling political tensions in Northern Nigeria and, by extension, nationwide, thereby vindicating advocates of Nigeria’s power-rotation and zoning convention.
In a press statement issued on Sunday and made available to NewsBits, Okechukwu appealed to Northerners to avoid the danger of ethno-identity politics because of the ambition of one man and his cohorts. He insisted that countries like Sudan are yet to recover from ethnic rivalry.
According to him, “The South he equipped has other presidential candidates and truly Atiku and Tinubu are ten and ten pence going by their antecedents.”
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 African Democratic Congress (ADC) had respected the principle of presidential power rotation and presented a southern candidate.
Okechukwu reminded Nigerians how patriots such as Alhajis Abubakar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma, and Drs Olusola Saraki, Alex Ekwueme, Ogbonnaya Onu et al, saved us in 1999 from ethno-identity politics by subordinating their personal presidential ambitions to broader national unity.
Okechukwu said: “Zoning advocates have consistently maintained that presidential power rotation is a vital instrument for managing Nigeria’s diversity. The current political tension demonstrates why the zoning convention should not be treated as an expendable item, merely to accommodate an individual’s presidential ambition. Moreover, he has no concrete solution to our economic quagmire.”
The former DG of VON also 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; such rhetoric could deepen ethnic divisions and may inadvertently place our fledgling democracy in harm’s way.”
