The death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010 is the single event that threw Nigeria’s power rotation formula into disarray, according to former Kano State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress chieftain, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Speaking during an Arise TV interview on Monday, Kwankwaso argued that the zoning confusion now plaguing the country’s political discourse can be traced directly to the circumstances surrounding Yar’Adua’s passing.
The late president, a northerner, died less than one term into his tenure. His deputy, Goodluck Jonathan from the South, took over and later contested and won a full four-year term in 2011. That sequence, Kwankwaso explained, broke the informal understanding between both regions.
He said the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South is an attempt to finally resolve the lingering disagreement. According to him, ending the debate requires a clean break, and offering the ticket to a southern candidate is the most practical path forward.
“We believe the best way to go now is to take it to the south so that we can eliminate the confusion, the confusion that emanated from the death of our brother, our friend, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua,” Kwankwaso said. “That actually introduced the confusion into the system.”
He admitted that the zoning question is often interpreted differently depending on which date a person chooses as the starting point. One could argue, he said, that the South has spent more years in power cumulatively since 1999. But he added that such calculations are often self-serving.
Kwankwaso proposed instead that the most logical reference point is the end of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. From that angle, the numbers lean in favor of the South.
“What worked now is counting from Buhari,” he said. “Anybody from the south on that side of argument would say that Buhari had eight years and the south is now doing its first term. In the next one year or so, it will be four years.”
The former governor disclosed that northern leaders who have joined the NDC accepted the southern zoning arrangement without any pushback. He said party unity was deemed more important than a prolonged regional squabble, adding that there was simply no point in fighting over the matter.
Kwankwaso also reminded his audience that the zoning debate should not overshadow a more critical national question. He said Nigerians need to focus less on where a president comes from and more on whether that individual possesses the competence, drive, and commitment to govern well.
“What is key now is not presidency from the north or from the south,” he said. “What is key is to have quality leadership, people who are enthusiastic, determined and committed to give the country the leadership it deserves.”
Kwankwaso and Peter Obi formally joined the NDC on May 3. At the party’s national convention in Abuja, the NDC officially adopted the southern zoning arrangement for its 2027 presidential ticket.
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