….Says exit of Atiku, Okowa a good riddance to bad rubbish
Prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro, has advocated for Nigeria’s presidency to remain in the southern region in 2027, in line with the country’s informal North-South power rotation arrangement.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, the Benue South senator cautioned political parties against fielding northern candidates in the upcoming election, warning such a move could backfire.
Moro attributed the PDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election partly to the party’s decision to select a northern candidate to succeed another northerner, a move he said voters rejected.
Expanding on the issue, Moro stated:
“In 2023, the PDP to unseat the government of APC, decided to put its best foot forward and at that time, picked Atiku Abubakar against the code of an unwritten agreement of North-South presidency. It backfired.
The majority of Nigerians at that time chose a southern candidate to fulfill the righteousness of the unwritten convention of the North-South rotation. That presidency will be four years by 2027.”
While he did not endorse any specific candidate, Moro emphasized that the constitution allows a president to serve for two terms of four years each, and he stressed the importance of respecting that framework.
“Again, it is going to present some little somersaults if, against the backdrop of what happened in 2023, you begin to tinker with the idea of getting power back to the north.
The reasonable thing to do is: the south should produce the next president to complete eight years of the south, and automatically, even though unwritten, Nigerians will be looking up to the north to produce the next president in 2031.”
Moro also commented on the departure of Atiku Abubakar and his 2023 running mate Ifeanyi Okowa from the PDP, describing it bluntly as good riddance to bad rubbish.
He accused both politicians of contributing to internal conflicts that weakened the party after the last general election but expressed confidence in the PDP’s potential to rebuild and emerge as a strong opposition force.
