A former spokesman and former Director-General of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, says the south, and not the north, should produce the president in 2027.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos, Okupe said it was only fair to allow the south to produce the next president.
Okupe said though Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate in 2023, was eminently qualified to contest in 2027, he did not think it was right for the PDP chieftain to be president.
The ex-Presidential spokesman said the problem with the idea of Atiku presidency in 2027 is geopolitics, not age, adding that the south should be allowed to complete its eight-year term, just as the north did before the coming of President Bola Tinubu.
“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.
“The conditionality still 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”, Okupe said.
The ex-LP chieftain said Mr Peter Obi, the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party could also vie for the highest office in the country in 2027, as a southerner.
He, however, said it would be very difficult for Obi to dislodge Tinubu as the President working well for the progress of the country.
“Obi can contest. Obi is a young man, very dynamic and very ambitious; but 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,” he said.
On whether alliances of politicians and parties could unseat Tinubu in 2027, Okupe said he did not see any political gang-up working against the president.
According to him, alliances against Tinubu will fail because the participants will 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, discussions and I have represented my party, 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 per cent of business partnership 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,” Okupe said.
On the alliance that brought ex-President Buhari in 2015, Okupe said that though he criticised the alliance, but the leader of the alliance, Tinubu, 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 said.
He expressed doubt in the readiness and willingness of opposition leaders such as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Peter Obi (LP), and Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP), mulling alliance against Tinubu in 2027, to concede for one another.
“If you look at it very well, that kind of maturity does not exist,”
Speaking about the performance of Tinubu, Okupe said that Nigeria was lucky that it was Tinubu that won the 2023 presidential election.
According to him, Tinubu has purpose, zeal and clarity of mind about where he wants to lead the country to.
Okupe said that it took Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore 31 years to bring Singapore from nowhere to the first world country that it is presently.
“It is either we want this country to move forward and be upgraded, or we want to keep playing politics and destroying the lives of our children, ” he said.
(NAN)
