The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, said the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, is violating the power-sharing agreement he supported in 1999 by seeking to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Naija News reports that Akume spoke on Thursday in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the Miyetti Allah Fulaku Yesoyeso, led by its National President, Alhaji Abubakar Suleiman.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga, the SGF recalled that the power-sharing agreement was reached at a meeting of governors-elect of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna in 1999.
Akume insisted that the current power-rotation arrangement gives the South eight years in office and the North must wait until 2031 to produce Nigeria’s next presidential candidate.
The SGF argued that successive administrations, from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, had largely followed the arrangement.
Akume recalled that Obasanjo served eight years, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua succeeded him but died in office, and his vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, then took over and served for almost six years before Buhari became president and completed two terms.
He further said that Tinubu succeeded Buhari and had served four years, with another four years remaining under the arrangement.
He said, “Under the agreement, the South was to serve for eight years before power returned to the North for another eight years. I am surprised that Atiku, who was part of the meeting and supported the arrangement, is now seeking to become president after Buhari has already served eight years,” Akume said.
“This is not the time for the North. The North will come in to contest in 2031.
“Personal ambition should not be allowed to divide the country or undermine its unity. Those seeking the presidency from the North should wait until 2031.”
