The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdul Aziz Yari Abubakar, has urged political leaders and stakeholders in the North to respect Nigeria’s informal power-rotation arrangement rather than use the region’s population to challenge the zoning principle.
Yari said the political understanding that paved the way for the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the South in the 2023 presidential election should be respected, stressing that the North would have its turn after the completion of Tinubu’s tenure.
The former Zamfara State governor made the remarks while speaking with journalists at the Kano State Government House following a meeting with Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
According to Yari, the North had benefited from the presidency for eight consecutive years under former President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2023, making it necessary for the region to allow the current power arrangement to run its course.
He said the principle of rotation was critical to maintaining political balance and promoting national unity in a country as diverse as Nigeria.
“From 2015 to 2023, this country was led by a northerner, and now from 2023 to 2026 it is led by a southerner,” Yari said.
He cautioned northerners against seeking to overturn the existing arrangement on the grounds that the region has a larger population.
“If we say we want to uproot the zoning arrangement because of our numbers, then my call for northerners is to understand how it works,” he said.
Yari maintained that the current political arrangement should be allowed to continue, arguing that the presidency would return to the North after Tinubu completes his constitutionally permitted tenure.
“I am calling on northerners to note that by the time Bola Ahmed Tinubu finishes in 2031, it will definitely come back to the North. So, this is how the arrangement is,” he said.
The APC chieftain said political power should not be viewed solely through the prism of population, noting that Nigeria’s political stability also depended on mutual understanding, accommodation and respect for agreements among the country’s various regions.
He urged political actors across the country to prioritise national unity and work together to protect Nigeria’s interests despite differences in political affiliation, region or ideology.
Yari, however, acknowledged that the Tinubu administration was not without challenges, stressing that the government could not be held solely responsible for all the difficulties confronting the country.
He called for a broader understanding of Nigeria’s challenges and sustained cooperation among citizens and political stakeholders to address the country’s economic and developmental concerns.
