2027: Ganduje, his no vacancy comment

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, last week, stirred the hornet nest when he warned northern politicians nursing any presidential ambition in 2027 to perish the thought, as according to him there is no vacancy in Aso Rock Villa.

Historically, Nigeria political trajectory is replete with such statements to the point of it becoming a slang in the Nigerian political lexicon and lamentably a syndrome for many officeholders’ reluctance to relinquish their seats.

For example, in the build-up to the 2011 presidential election, then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national leader, late Tony Anenih, had audaciously announced, during the commissioning of then President Goodluck/Namadi Sambo Organisation office, that there was no vacancy in Aso Rock, consensus candidate or not.

He had boastfully told the crowd to mark his words, asserting: “Our presence has sent a signal. And I know that the people outside are more than the people inside. We know that there is Nigeria’s consensus candidate. And for Nigeria’s consensus candidate, there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. I do not waste my words.

“All I can say is that we should prepare not only for the primaries but also for the real election to re-elect President Jonathan and Vice President Sambo come 2011,” he said with tone of finality.

The success of Anenih’s assertiveness might have necessitated similar utterance from then Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, in his warning during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, when he urged all the presidential aspirants to; “jettison the idea and allow President Jonathan to complete all the good works he started for the country because there is no vacancy at the Aso Rock.”

Like others before him, Ganduje made his declaration when he received a Northern youth group, the Tinubu Young Generation Forum, who paid a courtesy visit on him at the headquarters of the ruling party in Abuja, last week.

“You know, our President is for the North, for the South, and for the six geopolitical zones. And we have been receiving support groups from all the six geopolitical zones, and we are happy that our party believes in zoning. When a leader from the northern part was in office for eight years, we advocated that the next President in our party should come from the South.

“Luckily enough, we worked very hard with the cooperation of Nigerians. Our President has come from the South and is going, inshallah, for second term in 2027. Then after that, it will return to the northern part of the country in 2031. So, I believe we are on the right course and we encourage you to continue working on that,” Ganduje announced, setting the agenda for 2027 presidential election.

He equally catalogued President Tinubu’s landmark achievements, which he noted would earn him the massive votes of Nigerians.

“There is no doubt so many things went wrong over a long period and it would require surgery before we can get it right. But we are happy that we have started seeing the outcome of the reforms, especially in the economic side and we believe this will continue to yield positive results so that the legacy and the Renewed Hope agenda will be achieved,” Ganduje said.

Reacting to the statement, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), came up with a resolution to support Northerners for the presidency and other offices in the 2027elections.

The ACF had claimed that the resolution was to save the region and country from the deplorable economic situation under President Tinubu, blaming his poor socio-economic policies for the region’s deteriorating condition.

ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, in a communiqué, hinged their antagonism against Tinubu on his biased leadership selection process which; “allowed many people without competence or experience to rise to positions of power and authority.

“Security is an irreducible minimum of human existence. In this regard, insecurity in its various manifestations remains the most worrisome challenge of the Arewa people that has even started to corrosively undermine the authority of government; such that people have started to ask what the purpose of government is!

“Those whose responsibility it is to provide security saying they are doing their best is unacceptable. The minimum duty of government is to safeguard life and property, and doing anything less is a failure. Members expressed displeasure at the current and continuing improvisation of the proverbial common men and women in the country due to the economic policies of the current administration.

“The Arewa people remain at great disadvantage, being already relatively worse off economically, compared to other parts of Nigeria. Livelihoods are currently dependent on micro activities. The region faces acute and chronic food insecurity; its youths lack education and skills training. Daunting as these may be, they can be reversed. The time to think big is now,” ACF said.

The ACF further said “given the nature of the presidency, it has become something like a cult; a personality cult and allegiance to the president because it looks like the president wants total allegiance and nothing else.

“We are in the season of politics and you should expect that those who are near the corridors of power should express those things. But it’s not constitutional.

“There’s nothing new in what Ganduje said. So many people have said so before. Not too long ago, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume said the same thing that northerners should forget about it until 2031.

“Party members cannot influence voters by force. So, what he said was an opinion, his personal opinion and it’s up to the voters to endorse, reject or modify what he said. I think voters are becoming wiser as to where the president comes from. In 2015, we were sold a dummy of anti-corruption and many things but people have realised that it wasn’t true.

“Then, the Renewed Hope came in 2023 and the hope is turning into a nightmare. What will sell President Tinubu is not whether he will contest or not, it will be his policies and their impact on the people. If they buy it, fine,” he said.

Predictably, embattled former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai, was among the first set of northern leaders to respond through his verified X handle, in the opinion titled, ‘2027: South West, Tinubu’s supporters playing with fire – Part 1’ asserting that; “the relationship between Tinubu and the North had deteriorated less than two years into his administration.”

Equally commenting, Abba Moro, a former apostle of “no vacancy at Aso Rock,” described the comment as an alignment of forces ahead of the electoral contest, noting that “there are several fireworks that are going on in the political firmament at the moment. These are attempts at alignment and realignment. Ambitions are on display and people are expressing sentiments in line with their ambitions.

“My take is that with time, the picture will become clearer as to the direction things take shape. Nigerians will make up their minds as to where to go. Don’t forget that this present government is barely a year and a few months old,” he added.

To apparently show that Ganduje was not alone in escalating the build up to the 2027 presidential election, both the SGF Akume and APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, had dismissed the claim that northerners are ganging up against President Tinubu.

Akume said: “President Tinubu as a Southerner should be allowed to have a second term, meaning that those eyeing the Presidency from the North in 2027 should look beyond that year by waiting till 2031. If it is the will of God for Atiku to be President of Nigeria, even at the age of 90 years, he can get it, but he and other Northerners, eyeing the office now, should look beyond 2027.”

Speaking to Daily Sun recently, the ruling party’s chief scribe said; “What you have just said about northerners ganging up against Asiwaju’s re-election is what philosophers call the fallacy of hasty generalisation. The Vice President, Minister of Economic Development, APC National Chairman, and others supporting President Tinubu are not Southerners. It is wrong to claim that Northerners are against Tinubu’s re-election bid.

“In Katsina recently, anytime they shout Nigeria, they will respond Sai Tinubu. We have to ignore the pontificating of some social media and disgruntled politicians from the reality on the ground. The groundswell of support for our party all over the country has been overwhelmingly increasing. Mr President has no problem in the North,” he said.

Similarly, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told Daily Sun that Tinubu will definitely emerge victorious in the 2027 presidential election, stressing: “I am very confident that by then Nigerians would see the fullness of the enormous value that the reforms of this administration have brought.

“The exciting outcomes are becoming manifest already and will continue to be visible until 2027. I do not doubt that by 2027 Nigerians will embrace this President and hand him another opportunity to continue this massive transformation of our dear country,” Morka noted.

But, Bode George, former PDP Deputy National Chairman, in disagreeing with the SGF, Akume, stressed that; “there is a vacancy in 2027 in Aso Rock because the APC has failed. APC is a congregation of strange fellows; let them not turn the opposition parties to nonsense.”

However, weighing in on the issue, APC foundation member and former Director- General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) toed a different dimension to it. He said “the erroneous breach of the rotation convention, a ligament holding our fledgling democracy together in the 2023 presidential election is the PDP’s biggest miscalculation. The rotation fire is raging and may not be quenched before 2027.

“The ugly outcome of the scenario sounds like the local clincher of the advisory song of the birds to the Reverend Father during Mass, that the big men seated in the altar front row are all the same character,” Okechukwu submitted.