Abati and Oseni Criticize Atiku’s Anti‑Zoning Comment; Dele Momodu Disagrees

By Matilda Ikediobi

Arise TV hosts Reuben Abati and Rufai Oseni criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for asserting that competence, rather than power rotation, should determine Nigeria’s next president.

The comments were made during the network’s Morning Show, where the hosts argued that Atiku’s statement was self‑serving and failed to acknowledge the country’s social and political realities.

Oseni said, “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should stop being hypocritical. I beg in the name of God. The first time we ever tried a candidate that tried to bring competency to the ballot was in the 1979 elections when Obafemi Awolowo and Philip Umeadi ran. They were two Southerners and they were Christians. The ticket was rebuffed. Until today, if there are two Southerners and Christian‑Christian, they will rebuff the ticket. Awolowo was from the South‑West, Umeadi was from the South‑East. They said they did not have a national spread.”

“When I see people talking competence today, were Awolowo and Umeadi not competent enough? Why did they rebuff the ticket then? I like Atiku Abubakar and respect him a lot. However, he says things only when they favour him. Is it not Atiku Abubakar that went to court against former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 to enforce the PDP zoning formula? He was also supported by his associates, MPLF, which went to court.”

“In fact, I think in one of the rulings, the court said they couldn’t assume jurisdiction and gave a decision, but acknowledged the fact that PDP had the zoning arrangements. When he was pushing against Jonathan, zoning was not self‑defeating. When he left Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007, that Jagaban zoned to the north for him, he ran in that election against Umar Musa Yaradua. At the time, zoning was not bad.”

“When they finally got their way in 2015 with the APC, and they said because Jonathan reneged on the term, they were going to punish him, zoning was good then? When zoning doesn’t favour him, zoning is bad. When zoning favours him, zoning is good. The next argument that they keep making, they say from 2019 to this time, power has gone more to the North. Yes, I accept the argument. Let me give you a counter‑argument: From 1960 to this time, the North has ruled between 45 to 47 years. The South ruled for about 18 to 20 years. So should we ask that we want those 20 years back?”

Abati added, “It will be self‑defeating and intellectually defeatist to say that the next president must come to the South, and that should work against the interests of President Bola Tinubu. And in his own reckoning, nobody has ever come from the same zone as the president to defeat an incumbent president, and then went ahead to win the election.”

“The first question to ask is one: why did he then in 2019, on the platform of the PDP, seek to become president of Nigeria, when the late President Buhari was in the saddle? Didn’t he have that wisdom at that time? Second, he says it’s self‑defeating and intellectually defeatist. Where is that written in the constitution?”

“This whole idea of a rotation is a sign of the underdevelopment of the Nigerian political process.”

“I think the answer to that is that we should have a country where the best and the brightest, persons of competence, people of great ability are the ones who become president. This idea of North‑South, there should be a sunset clause on it, to say that those who are capable are the persons who should come and run for presidency. And as Dr Kwankwanso pointed out in an interview on Arise News, the young people of Nigeria do not want people on the basis of religion and ethnicity.”

“They want persons who are competent and who can provide quality leadership. And Dr Kwankwanso is right. On that score, we should move away from a situation whereby all kinds of flotsam and jetsam of society are the ones who aspire to high office without having the necessary requisite qualifications.”

“Number three is the argument by Waziri Adamawa that the North has only had 10 years, the south has had 18 years at the top level since 1999. No, that argument is facetious. It shows a sign of desperation.”

“When President Musa Yaradua died, and in 2011, we had that situation where President Jonathan had to complete the term. Now, that completion of the term of President Yaradua that was talked about was in the Constitution. The Constitution says when the principal falls, because it’s a joint ticket, the next person follows.”

“Now, it was an unusual situation. It was an accident of history. And I think it is disingenuous to act on that and say, I am playing North‑South politics. It could have happened to a southerner too. If a Southern president were to die in office at any time, we would still say that the Constitution must be followed. For a man who wants a position where he will swear an oath of office to say I am going to defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic, to now turn the same Constitution on