2027: Don’t Insist on Northern Presidency, Yari Tells Northerners

The Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has urged Northerners not to insist on retaining the presidency in 2027, saying political power must rotate between the North and South for the sake of national unity.

Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, made the call while speaking with journalists in Kano on Sunday, stressing that Nigeria belonged to all its citizens and should not be treated as the exclusive preserve of any region.

He said the North had governed Nigeria for several years since independence and should therefore understand the need to give other parts of the country an opportunity to lead.

The APC chieftain said the numerical strength of the North should not be used as a justification to insist on retaining political power, noting that such an approach would not promote the unity and development needed in the country.

“My call to Northerners is to understand how it works. We shouldn’t be selfish. This is Nigeria and we don’t have any other country,” Yari stated.

He said political leadership should be based on a principle of “give and take,” arguing that power would eventually return to the North after the current political cycle.

“By God’s grace, if I saw it, we’ll have a round of this by 2030. It’s going to be from the North. It’s going to the South. That’s how it’s going to work and make a peaceful country,” he said.

Yari also defended the administration’s management of the country’s economic and security challenges, saying no government could completely eliminate such problems.

He urged Nigerians to assess the performance of governments using economic indicators, including foreign reserves and inflation, rather than focusing only on the difficulties confronting the country.

The former governor further appealed to political leaders and Nigerians to work for peace and national development, saying both the federal and state governments were making efforts to address the country’s challenges.