The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his remarks on North–South power rotation ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Onanuga insisted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must complete two terms in office, arguing that the presidency should remain in the South until 2031.
In a post on X on Thursday, the presidential aide said the rotational arrangement should allow Tinubu to finish an eight-year tenure just as former President Muhammadu Buhari did.
“Since Buhari completed his eight years, Tinubu too must complete his own,” Onanuga wrote.
He added that Atiku should drop any plans to contest the presidency again.
“All Atiku needs to do is to bury the thought of running again, as it is still the South’s turn in the 2027 election,” he said.
Onanuga accused the former vice president of promoting what he described as a “self-serving argument” to justify an attempt to disrupt Nigeria’s informal zoning arrangement.
“This Atiku will never learn. Once again, Abubakar Atiku has put forward a self-serving argument to justify his attempt to disrupt Nigeria’s power rotation arrangement,” he said.
According to Onanuga, Atiku had earlier disregarded the zoning principle within the People’s Democratic Party when he contested the 2023 election despite the presidency having been held by a northerner for eight years.
“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 years in office,” he said.
“His ambition fractured the PDP, leading to his resounding defeat at the polls,” he added.
Onanuga’s remarks followed Atiku’s interview on Prime Time on Arise TV on Wednesday, where the former vice president addressed the debate on zoning amid speculation about his potential 2027 presidential bid.
During the interview, Atiku dismissed claims that there was a binding national agreement on power rotation.
“No, I think this is an error and a mistake to say that there is an agreement on the issue of zoning in Nigeria,” he said.
He argued that the PDP is the only party with a formal zoning provision in its constitution.
“Let me tell you, the only political party that has a zoning provision in its constitution is the PDP. All the rest don’t have it,” he said, adding that other parties had largely adopted the principle from the PDP model.
Despite his position, Atiku said he supports the idea of rotating the presidency between the North and South.
He referenced debates at the 2004 National Political Reforms Conference convened by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during which late statesman Alex Ekwueme proposed a rotational presidency.
Atiku also argued that, since the return to democracy in 1999, the South has held the presidency longer than the North.
“But if we are talking about the zoning formula in the PDP, the South has governed for 18 years and the North has governed for 10. So who is in a deficit if you want to be fair?” he said.
The former vice president added that he would support a consensus candidate for the 2027 election, saying he could back any aspirant who emerges, including Peter Obi.
Atiku further suggested that the 2027 presidential race could be his final attempt to lead the country.
Responding to those remarks, Onanuga dismissed Atiku’s calculations as “dubious,” noting that the North’s shorter tenure was partly due to the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua while in office, which led to the succession of Goodluck Jonathan.
“This accidental breach does not invalidate the power rotation arrangement between the North and the South,” Onanuga said.
