Atiku’s 2027 ‘last card’ dangerous — Okechukwu

Former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, has warned that Atiku Abubakar’s determination to contest the 2027 presidential election could endanger Nigeria’s democracy and inflame ethnic tensions.

Okechukwu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, urged the former vice president to abandon his presidential ambition and allow power to remain in the South.

Speaking on Arise News on Monday, he said his appeal was not driven by partisan politics but by concern for Nigeria’s fledgling democracy and the survival of a strong opposition.

“Atiku Abubakar is a man I respect a lot. What I am appealing to him is that he should consider the interest of the Nigerian state, our fledgling democracy, and withdraw,” Okechukwu said.

He accused Atiku of breaching the Peoples Democratic Party’s power rotation convention by contesting its 2023 presidential primary after eight years of a northern presidency.

According to him, Atiku’s emergence inflicted heavy damage on the PDP and deepened the crisis that pushed influential members, including Nyesom Wike, towards the APC.

“About three years ago, he did the same thing by breaching the rotation convention, and the collateral damage was heavy,” he said.

Okechukwu argued that the PDP would have remained a stronger opposition force if Atiku had allowed a southern candidate to fly the party’s flag in 2023.

“If he had allowed a Southerner to contest, even if the PDP had lost, the party could have remained strong,” he added.

The APC stalwart acknowledged that zoning was not provided for in Nigeria’s Constitution but insisted that political conventions carried moral authority and helped preserve national unity.

He rejected arguments that zoning had worsened Nigeria’s ethnic divisions, warning that abandoning the arrangement could instead fuel resentment and dangerous ethnic mobilisation.

“It did not divide Nigeria further, and it did not breed violence. The worst-case scenario is when you do not yield and begin to tell people that the South has come again. That is what I want to avoid,” Okechukwu said.

He also defended the APC against criticism over the continued exclusion of the South-East from its presidential ticket, recalling that former President Muhammadu Buhari selected Chuba Okadigbo and Edwin Ume-Ezeoke as running mates in 2003 and 2007.

Okechukwu maintained that the South-East consistently supported the PDP but was eventually disappointed by Atiku’s refusal to respect the party’s zoning tradition.

Reiterating his call for Atiku to step aside, the APC chieftain warned that the former vice president’s description of the 2027 contest as his final opportunity made the situation more troubling.

“When it is the last card in poker, the last card is always dangerous,” he declared.