By Clifford Ndujihe
THE February 20, 2027 presidential election is exactly 910 days away, going by the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, but the political firmament is astir as if the poll will be held next year.
This is in spite of the fact that President Bola Tinubu, a southerner, who succeeded former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, is barely 15 months into his 48 months first term.
Currently, political leaders, especially from the North are locked in series of consultations on the issue. Underground alignment and re-alignments are also ongoing.
Already, leaders of opposition parties have declared their readiness to form a strong coalition to stop the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Those seeking to stop Tinubu hinge their stand on the president’s alleged poor performance since he took over on May 29, 2023, which they said had inflicted avoidable crushing hardship on Nigerians.
Early in the week, a joint ticket of Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma and APC National Chairman, Alhaji Umaru Ganduje, was reported. In a quick counter, Ganduje disowned the move, which he said was being orchestrated by those plotting to put a wedge between him and President Tinubu.
Northern power brokers angling to stop Tinubu are said to be looking for a southerner, who will do a term and relinquish power to the North in line with the North-South power rotation principle. After Tinubu’s four years in 2027, the South will need another fours to balance the North’s eight years occupied by Buhari.
This is one of the reasons some are rooting for former President Jonathan with one of the northern groups pairing Jonathan and Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State as a sellable 2027 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ticket.
Culled from Vanguard
