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Former Kaduna Central Senator and civil rights activist, Shehu Sani, has cautioned northern political leaders against attempting to wrest power back from the South in the 2027 presidential election, warning that such a move could reignite heavy political agitations in the South-West, South-East, and South-South regions.
Speaking during an interview with journalists in Kaduna on Friday, October 9, 2026, Sani emphasized that respecting the established convention of a rotational presidency is vital to preserving national cohesion and political stability.
He asserted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be permitted to complete the South’s eight-year tenure, pointing out that northern leaders can legitimately pursue their presidential ambitions in 2031 without destabilizing the nation’s political arrangement.
Warning of the geopolitical consequences of truncating the power-sharing agreement, Sani remarked: The danger of disrupting this rotational idea is the fact that whatever you are doing to Tinubu for ethnic reasons, Tinubu must go.”
He argued that the relative reduction in regional separatist agitation across the country is tied to the inclusive belief that every region can occupy the presidency.
Elaborating on the calm currently observed across southern geopolitical zones, Sani said:“Today, if you look at it, the agitation for Biafra has gone to the lowest point because they are hopeful that one of their own is contesting the presidency of this country.”
The former lawmaker added that separatist pushes for Yoruba and Niger Delta republics have similarly subsided because representatives from those areas hold executive office, warning that disrupting power rotation could reverse those national security gains.
Sani stressed that the North has no moral or political justification to demand an immediate return to the presidency, given that former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, governed for eight years between 2015 and 2023.
On the rationale behind power rotation, Sani noted:“The principle of rotation of power makes it clear that Buhari has been in power for eight years. It is only logical and rational that you have a southerner.”
He also questioned the political calculations around former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s renewed presidential ambitions, recalling how northern electorate dynamics historically shifted in past contests involving Atiku against Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari.
Addressing security issues, the former senator faulted northern political leaders for using double standards to criticize the current administration while having remained silent during security failures under the previous government.
Challenging political hypocrisy regarding northern security challenges, Sani stated:“We cannot address security challenges in the country when we shielded our own who failed to address the problem, and now shift blame and use it for political reasons to achieve certain political ends.”
Sani, who is seeking a return to the Senate to represent Kaduna Central, concluded by emphasizing the need for experienced, bridge-building legislative representation to address the region’s socio-economic and security challenges.
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