2027: VON’s Ex-DG warns against ethnic tension fuelled by disregard for presidential zoning

Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and APC foundation member, Osita Okechukwu

Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and APC foundation member, Osita Okechukwu, has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s breach of zoning is fuelling political tensions in the North and, by extension, nationwide, thereby vindicating advocates of Nigeria’s power-rotation and zoning convention.

Mr Okechukwu, who said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, appealed to northerners to avoid the dangers of ethno-identity politics driven by one man and his cohorts, noting that countries like Sudan have yet to recover from ethnic rivalry.

“The South 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 African Democratic Congress (ADC) had respected the principle of presidential power rotation and presented a southern candidate.

Mr Okechukwu reminded Nigerians that some prominent politicians, including Abubakar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma, Olusola Saraki, Alex Ekwueme, and Ogbonnaya Onu, whom he described as patriots, saved the country 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. Moreover, when he has no concrete solution to our economic quagmire,” he said.

The former VON DG cited the peaceful nature of the 1999, 2007 and 2019 presidential elections of Olusegun Obasanjo vs Olu Falae, Muhammadu Buhari vs Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari vs 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.

He noted 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.

Mr Okechukwu, therefore, 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.”