2027: Atiku Only Cares About Running, Not Winning!

 By Olu Fasan

To several Nigerians, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, should not run for president next year. Some cite age, others zoning. On the first, the general view is that, at 80 years old by the time of the next presidential election in January 2027, Atiku would be too old to run for president. On the second, many posit that the South, which currently holds the presidency, should be allowed to complete the conventional second term.

*Atiku

Thus, Atiku, being a Northerner, should respect the unwritten zoning rule, and desist from seeking the presidency next year. But while there are some merits in the age and zoning arguments, they are not the real obstacles to Atiku becoming Nigeria’s president next year if he decides to defy the zeitgeist and run for the presidency.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Is Tinubu Having Buyer’s Remorse?

 By Olu Fasan

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s Marmite president, is by no means a religious bigot. He is a moderate, even liberal, Muslim, who is surrounded, including in his immediate family, by practising Christians.

*Shettima and his wife; Tinubu and his wife 

However, for self-interested political calculations, Tinubu played the religious card to become president in 2023 by picking a fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima, as his running-mate. Perhaps more than any other columnist in Nigeria, I wrote severally on the issue. It struck me as a profound mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity and a monumental betrayal of the national interest to place personal political gain ahead of religious balance and harmony in Nigeria.