Newscenter Media News The Director-General of Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said on Thursday former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would not become the country’s president in 2027 due to ethnic considerations.
Okupe, who addressed journalists in Lagos, said it would be fair for President Bola Tinubu, a Southerner, to complete an eight-year tenure before power returns to the North.
The ex-presidential spokesman said the problem with the idea of Atiku’s presidency in 2027 was geopolitics, not age.
He stressed that the South should be allowed to complete its eight-year term just as the North did before Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 general election.
Okupe said: “Atiku failed in 2023, not because he was not a good person, but because people felt that a northern Muslim cannot succeed another northern Muslim after eight years.
“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.
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“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.”
On the former Anambra State governor, he added: “Obi can contest. Obi is a young man, very dynamic and very ambitious. However, geopolitics is important in a country that has not achieved horizontal and vertical unity.
“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.”
On the reported alliance among politicians and parties against Tinubu in 2027, the medical doctor-turned-politician said he did not see any political gang-up working against the president.
He stressed that alliances against Tinubu would fail because the promoters would not be willing to give concessions.
“I have been in this game for 40 years and above. I came into politics in 1978. I have been in several talks, and discussions and I have represented my party, and my movement in several alliances.
“We have not attained that maturity to get to the level of being rational and reasonable and ready to give the necessary concession for a group interest. We are not there yet.
“Even if you look at our private businesses, go and check, 90 percent of business partnerships will crumble within the first three years.
“I wish those who are trying alliance, I wish them luck but it is going to end up the same way it has always ended up. All the alliances will end up in futility,” he stated.
On the alliance that brought ex-President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015, Okupe said that though he criticised the alliance, Tinubu, who led the initiative, conceded everything to make it work.
“The man who spearheaded that alliance has grown beyond this constitution of naivety and selfishness.
“You put up an alliance, you set up a dining table, you cook food, and say other people should go and eat it. It is not done anywhere.
“Everything, he conceded, so that the thing could work,” he concluded.
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