The national coordinator of the Movement for Equity in Nigeria (MEN), Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, has condemned the growing calls for a power shift back to the North in 2027, insisting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves a second term to complete the South’s turn in the spirit of equity.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Enugu, Siddiki described the push for a northern president in 2027 as “unjust and self-serving.”

He said, “We’re all aware that power has been rotating between the North and South since our nation’s return to democratic rule in 1999. This arrangement has largely promoted mutual understanding, national development, and equitable resource distribution.”

Siddiki argued that with the North having completed its two terms of eight years in 2023, it is only fair that the region supports the South to do the same by allowing President Tinubu to remain in office until 2031.

“We’re more embarrassed by the fact that it’s the same people who vigorously schemed for power shift to the South that are struggling to return power to the North, just after one tenure.”

On the lingering economic and political situation in Nigeria, for which a coalition of politicians mostly from the northern part of the country is angling to unseat President Tinubu in 2027, Siddiki described the hardship being witnessed as inherited. 

“This hardship had been on before the coming of the Tinubu administration. So, he shouldn’t be held responsible for all the challenges bedeviling the country. 

“Rather, we should be looking at the efforts he’s making to improve the situation. And anything short of another tenure for the South through the Tinubu presidency amounts to injustice and disservice to Nigeria,” he said.