Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has warned that any move by northern politicians to take the presidency from the South in 2027 could reignite separatist agitation in the South-West, South-East and South-South.
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He spoke to journalists in Kaduna on Friday, 9 October 2026, arguing that President Bola Tinubu should be allowed to complete the South’s turn in office before power returns to the North.
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Sani, who is seeking a return to the Senate, said respecting the rotation arrangement would help preserve national unity and avoid fresh political tension. He said the North could pursue the presidency in 2031 without disturbing the current arrangement.
He noted that the North held the presidency for eight years under former President Muhammadu Buhari, from 2015 to 2023, and said it was therefore reasonable for a southern candidate to hold the office next. He warned that any attempt to disrupt the arrangement on ethnic grounds could backfire on those pursuing it.
Sani also linked the reduced separatist agitation in parts of the South to the prospect of a president from the region. Speaking of the South-East, he said “the agitation for Biafra has gone to the lowest point” because people there are hopeful that one of their own is contesting the presidency. He cautioned that undoing the arrangement could weaken that sense of political inclusion and create new tensions.
The former lawmaker also accused some northern politicians of applying double standards to insecurity under Buhari and Tinubu. He pointed to past school abductions in Dapchi, Kankara, Jangebe and Yauri, and to attacks on educational institutions in Kaduna State, saying leaders should be held accountable regardless of their region. He argued that the country cannot tackle insecurity if leaders who failed to address it are shielded and the issue is then used for political ends.
Sani added that effective representation in the National Assembly is needed to address insecurity, poverty, poor healthcare and educational challenges in northern Nigeria.
Source: GistReel
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