Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
A newly unveiled socio-political movement, Nigeria Forward, has called on political stakeholders in Northern Nigeria to respect the principle of power rotation and allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to complete an eight-year presidential tenure before the North seeks to reclaim power.
The group made the call on Friday in Abuja at its formal unveiling, arguing that returning the presidency to the North after only one term would undermine the rotational principle and risk reopening sectional tensions that have historically shaped Nigeria’s presidential politics. The Co-Convener of Nigeria Forward and Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya, said the North should not seek a return to the presidency in 2027 after only four years of the current administration, insisting that allowing Tinubu to complete eight years would provide political continuity and give his government time to consolidate its policies.
Waiya recalled that the North had enjoyed eight years in office under former President Muhammadu Buhari before power shifted to the South under Tinubu. “Don’t forget, so as to be fair, the North had its own eight years under Muhammadu Buhari, and now the South is having its own under Bola Tinubu, the first tenure,” he said. “And then the North should not be unfair to the South. We feel that we should be very much fair to our own brothers and sisters in the South. This means allowing the South to continue and complete its own tenure, so that the North can stay fresh for a complete another round of eight years.” He warned that interrupting the current tenure could destabilise the country and jeopardise the development gains being recorded.
The call comes amid growing political manoeuvring ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the presidential and National Assembly polls scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. President Tinubu is seeking a second term, while opposition candidates including Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress are mounting challenges. The debate over power rotation has become a central fault line in the contest, with northern political stakeholders divided over whether the region should support Tinubu’s re-election or field a northern candidate.
Waiya said Nigeria Forward had two fundamental objectives: promoting national unity and consolidating the development gains recorded under the Tinubu administration. He described the platform as a “rainbow coalition” that was not owned by any particular political party but belonged to Nigerians. He urged citizens to place the broader principle of national balance above immediate electoral calculations, saying Nigerians should focus on governance and development rather than allowing the 2027 contest to revive sectional divisions.
According to Waiya, the Tinubu administration inherited significant economic and security challenges in 2023 and had since introduced measures which, in his assessment, were putting the country on a different trajectory. He cited local government autonomy, increased financial resources accruing to sub-national governments and moves towards establishing state police structures as reforms that could strengthen governance and security. He disclosed that Kano State had established a state police implementation committee, which he said could contribute to job creation and improved security when fully implemented.
Waiya also urged citizens to recognise that responsibility for national development did not rest solely with the President, stressing that state and local governments had constitutional responsibilities. He said Nigerians should examine what sub-national governments were doing with increased allocations, rather than attributing every development challenge to the Federal Government. “We in Nigeria, I’m sorry to say, talk more than we do. So this time around, Nigeria Forward is trying to drive also another process of making the talk turn to action,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, who co-convenes Nigeria Forward alongside Waiya, said the movement was established to mobilise citizens in support of Tinubu’s administration and promote the gains of its Renewed Hope Agenda. He said the Federal Government’s reforms were designed to move Nigeria from infrastructure and connectivity to production, jobs and prosperity. “Nigeria Forward is about collective responsibility to extend the emerging gains of the Renewed Hope Reform Initiative of President Tinubu, by standing with our progressive president to ensure continuity and consolidation,” Udeh said.
Udeh said Nigeria Forward would bridge the gap between government policies and citizens by providing information on projects, investments, opportunities and the impact of government programmes in communities. He said Nigeria’s development story, particularly in the North, should not be reduced to political slogans, urging citizens to examine what was being built, where projects were located, the problems they were solving and who stood to benefit. He described the administration’s development trajectory as “reform to infrastructure, infrastructure to connectivity, connectivity to production, production to jobs and jobs to prosperity,” and called on Nigerians to support Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 to consolidate the reforms.
The unveiling of Nigeria Forward adds a new organisational dimension to the campaign for Tinubu’s re-election, which has already attracted endorsements from several quarters. In July 2026, North-East leaders endorsed Tinubu and pledged bloc votes for the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 election. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State commended leaders from the North-West and North-Central for supporting the decision, describing their position as evidence of unity within the ruling party. The forum of former presiding officers of state Houses of Assembly has also endorsed Tinubu and pledged to mobilise their members across the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The power rotation debate is not new to Nigerian politics. Since the return to democracy in 1999, the presidency has rotated between the South and the North in an informal arrangement designed to promote national unity and balance. Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner, served two terms from 1999 to 2007. Umaru Yar’Adua, a northerner, served from 2007 until his death in 2010, and was succeeded by Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, who completed the term and won a full term in 2011. Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, served two terms from 2015 to 2023, before power returned to the South with Tinubu’s election in 2023. The argument advanced by Nigeria Forward is that the South should be allowed to complete its own eight-year cycle before the North seeks another turn, consistent with the pattern that has governed presidential succession since 1999.
Critics of the rotation principle argue that it prioritises regional balance over merit and competence, and that it has not prevented the emergence of sectional tensions or improved governance outcomes. Supporters counter that it has been essential to holding Nigeria’s diverse federation together and that abandoning it would deepen regional grievances. The 2027 election will test whether the principle retains its hold on the political imagination or whether it is swept aside by the ambitions of individual candidates and the calculations of regional power brokers.
For Nigeria Forward, the immediate task is to translate its message into grassroots mobilisation across the North, a region where opposition to Tinubu’s re-election has been vocal in some quarters. Waiya cautioned northern commentators against media attacks, advising regional stakeholders to engage the administration through structured developmental agendas instead of politically motivated opposition. “We cannot be driven by all the sentiments that have been propagated or promoted by certain politicians who have deliberately designed and engaged in a campaign to pollute the minds of Nigerian citizens against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said. “We wouldn’t allow that to continue because we believe that his mandate deserves another chance.”
As the 2027 elections draw closer, the battle for the North’s support will be one of the defining contests of the campaign. Nigeria Forward has staked its claim, framing the choice as one between continuity and consolidation on the one hand, and political disruption on the other. Whether northern voters accept that framing will be determined at the polls.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments