“There is no business of anybody in the north to do with the presidency at the moment. It is the turn of the south; they should complete their eight years, if we are really serious about this country. It should rotate so that we will all be our brother’s keepers.”
By Olawale Lamina
The governor of Adamawa state, Ahmadu Fintiri, has thrown his weight behind rotational presidency arrangement ahead of the 2027 elections, arguing that no northerner should be involved in joining the race.
Fintiri, who became the latest governor to decamp to the ruling All Progressives Congress , APC, obviously speaks to the interest of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is also from Adamawa state and warming up for the 2027 presidential race against incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Governor Fintiri’s position was made known on Tuesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. According to him, anybody can aspire to any any political office, but based on the spirit of rotational presidency in the country, the southern region should retain the presidency in order to promote fairness and unity of the Nigeria.
Fintiri said: “There is no business of anybody in the north to do with the presidency at the moment. It is the turn of the south; they should complete their eight years, if we are really serious about this country. It should rotate so that we will all be our brother’s keepers.”
Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was the PDP candidate in the 2023 polls is also among key contenders for the 2027 presidential election under the ADC coalition. Atiku is not the only northern politician eyeing the top job, while Bola Tinubu from the South is running his first lap of the four years in office, embattled Mallam Nasir el Rufai is also among the big wigs with special interest in the nation’s foremost office.
Fintiri, who did not hide his support for the APC made his sand public when he jumped ship, in a state as Atiku Abubarkar’s homestead.
“What else do we want as a state? We won’t force anybody to be a presidential candidate, which means we will continue to support our people to play local politics.
“Everybody knows we are organized, and if we push further, we can still win elections. But who is that person who has come out to say he wants to contest for the presidential election in the PDP? We have seen none for now,” Fintiri state, as part of his justification for supporting the ruling party under Tinubu.
On the relationship between him and the former VP, who also was at a time the governor of Adamawa state, Fintiri said: “…there is nothing that has gone bad. It is just that everybody has taken their political ways. I am today in APC, they are in another party.”
And based on his personal conviction and political choice, the Adamawa state chief executive restated his support for President Tinubu, a Muslim and southern candidate.
“It is still the turn of the south to complete. A northerner has no business at the moment to vie for the office of the President.
“If there is no other candidate, we should support Bola Tinubu GCFR to complete his tenure. After all, he has done so much. He initiated good policies that are working, that are showing us light at the end of the tunnel.”
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