Talk of Atiku standing down after one term for an Igbo candidate played down by his campaign team

CLAIMS that former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will stand down after a single four-year term for an Igbo candidate have been played down by one of his campaign spokesman who said it is too early to agree on such a plan.

In late June, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected Alhaji Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its annual convention. However, his election has created all sorts of problems for the PDP as Alhaji Abubakar is a Fulani Muslim as it outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari and his election would breach the gentleman's agreement on the rotation of Nigeria's presidency.

Although not constitutional, Nigeria's component parts have a gentleman's agreement that the presidency will rotate between the north and the south of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure will end in 2023 and being a Fulani northern Muslim, it is expected that the next president will come from southern Nigeria.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the southwest has produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south President Goodluck Jonathan, so come 2023, the presidency should automatically go to the southeast geo-political zone. However, neither the PDP or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has nominated Igbo presidential candidates.

In the case of the PDP, the selection of Alhaji Abubakar has caused the party particular difficulties with several of its governors refusing to accept the decision as it is such a breach of the north-south gentleman's agreement. In a bid to ease some of this tension, Raymond Dokpesi, the leader of the technical committee for Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign had said that if elected, Atiku would do a single four-year term and allow the southeast to produce the president in 2027.

However, Don Pedro Obaseki, a media consultant for the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, said it was too early to agree to such plans. Speaking on Arise Television’s The Morning Show, Mr Obaseki said Atiku should be allowed to win the election and finish his first tenure for now.

Asked whether Atiku, who would turn 79 at the end of his first tenure, would step down for an Igbo presidency, Obaseki said: “We never start this one you dey talk of the one we never reach. The man will win this one first and then stabilise Nigeria and with his mouth, he would say I’m stepping down for Igbo presidency.

"In all his attempts at the presidency, his first time he chose Ben Obi, an Igbo man and in his second time, he chose another, Peter Obi as a running mate, and now this third time, he has chosen another candidate of Igbo extraction, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate. So when he stands in the public and say I’m a stop-gap for the Igbo presidency, can’t you realise that this man has shown an open propensity for the Igbo people.”