2027: Support Tinubu – Doyin Okupe Tells North, Says Buhari Finished Nigeria

Former presidential aide and ex-Director General of the Peter Obi 2023 Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has declared that the presidency will remain in the South come 2027, dismissing any potential shift of power to the North.

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, Okupe acknowledged the growing mobilization among northern elites and young political minds, describing it as a positive step toward addressing long-standing neglect of the region’s masses.

However, he dismissed the possibility of a northern presidency in 2027, citing Nigeria’s established tradition of power rotation.

“Power cannot return to the North. We rotate between the North and the South. The North does eight years, after which the South does eight years,” Okupe stated. “I’m not saying that Bola Tinubu must be president in 2027, but it is not going to be a northerner.”

Okupe highlighted the historical precedent of balancing regional representation in leadership to maintain national unity.

He cited past instances, such as the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, which followed an unwritten consensus to assuage the South-West after the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.

He said: “I want to remind you that when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became president, there was an unwritten national consensus that somebody from the South-West, would be president because if you looked at it, the two candidates for that election were Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae. So head and tail, South-West wins.

“That was the national concession and it was not for nothing. It was because the stakeholders felt then that following Chief MKO Abiola’s death, who was presumed to have won an election, there was a need to assuage the South-West. It was not a question of Northern interest. You see, those who controlled the affairs of this nation in terms of politics before now were more interested in national interest than sectional interest. And our failure to evolve a national elite system is one of the most fundamental problems why Nigeria is stagnating because we all pull in different directions.”

Challenges to Rotation

Responding to concerns from some northerners that a southern president in 2027 might seek to extend their tenure beyond the agreed rotation, Okupe described the situation as a “political quagmire.”