Former Senator Shehu Sani did not speak as a politician looking for Senate ticket in Kaduna Central. He spoke as an elder who has seen this country burn before, and is begging us not to pour petrol again.
On October 9, 2026, in Kaduna, Sani said what many northern elites whisper in private but lack the courage to say in public: If the North disrupts the rotational presidency in 2027 and brings back power to the North after Buhari’s 8 years, we will revive Biafra, Yoruba Nation and Niger Delta Republic overnight.
And he is absolutely right.
Let us be honest with ourselves.
Muhammadu Buhari, our own son, ruled Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. Eight full years. For eight years, the South-West, South-East and South-South waited. They grumbled, but they waited, because there was an unwritten gentleman’s agreement: Power rotates. North 8, South 8. That is what holds this fragile country together.
President Bola Tinubu, a Southerner, has only done 3 years plus. His 4-year first term ends in May 2027. He has not even completed one full southern turn. And yet, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at 80, wants to truncate it.
Atiku has contested against Obasanjo in 2007, against Yar’Adua in 2007, against Jonathan in 2011 and 2015, against Buhari in 2019 and 2023. Now he wants to contest against Tinubu in 2027. When will it be enough? Is the presidency his inheritance?
Shehu Sani captured it perfectly: “Whatever you are doing to Tinubu for ethnic reasons, Tinubu must go.” That is the mentality driving Atiku’s 2027 camp — Not that Tinubu has failed, but that he must go because he is not from the North. That is dangerous politics.
Look at What Peace Rotation Has Bought Us:
Sani made a point that every intelligence officer knows is true:
Today, Biafra agitation is at its lowest in 10 years. Why? Because Nnamdi Kanu is in detention, yes, but more importantly, because an Igbo man, Peter Obi, is on the ballot in 2027 under NDC. The South-East has hope that through the ballot, one of their own can be president in 2031 after Tinubu. Take that hope away by bringing a northern president in 2027, and you tell 45 million Igbos: You will never smell Aso Rock again. What do you think happens next? IPOB camps in the bush will swell overnight.
Yoruba Nation agitation has disappeared. Why? Because a Yoruba man is in power. Sunday Igboho is quiet. If you bring Atiku in 2027, you tell the entire South-West, with all its media, money and universities, that their turn was just 3 years. Do you think the South-West will accept it? They will start asking: Are we second-class citizens in the rotation?
Niger Delta Republic agitation — the boys in the creeks who shut down oil production — they are quiet because they see a southern presidency protecting derivation. Disrupt rotation, and you wake the sleeping militants.
Shehu Sani is warning: You cannot govern a country where the entire South feels robbed.
Atiku’s Path Is Selfish and Short-Sighted
What does the North gain if Atiku wins in 2027? Four years. Maybe eight. And after that, the South will never trust the North again. The rotation will be dead. And when rotation dies, what holds Nigeria together? Nothing.
Atiku is not running for the North. He is running for himself. He has lived in Dubai for years while bandits took over Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kaduna. Shehu Sani reminded us: Under Buhari, we saw Dapchi girls abducted, Kankara boys kidnapped, Jangebe, Yauri, Greenfield University. Where was Atiku’s voice then? Silent. Now he wants to use insecurity — the same insecurity his kinsman Buhari failed to solve — to campaign against Tinubu.
That is the double standard Sani called out: You shielded Buhari when he failed, now you want to crucify Tinubu for the same problem in just 3 years?
The North should be careful.
We have serious problems: 70% of out-of-school children are in the North. Our healthcare is collapsing. Our farms are empty because of bandits. We need a Senator like Shehu Sani who will build primary health centres, give scholarships, empower women — not a President Atiku who will spend four years fighting the South-West and South-East for legitimacy.
The Logical Thing Is 2031, Not 2027
Sani’s solution is painful but honest: Let Tinubu complete the South’s 8 years — 2023 to 2031. Then power returns to the North in 2031. In 2031, the North can present a young, competent, national figure — not a serial contestant.
If the North insists on 2027, we are telling the South that the rule only applies when it favours the North. And once you break trust, you cannot rebuild it with press releases.
President Tinubu may not be perfect. But disrupting rotation because of Atiku’s personal ambition will not bring better governance; it will bring Biafra back, bring Oduduwa back, bring Niger Delta Avengers back, and bring Nigeria to the brink.
The North must choose: Do we want a temporary northern president, or do we want a permanent united Nigeria?
Shehu Sani has warned us. History will not forgive us if we ignore him.
Written by Fattykolly Ibn Alimi
Fattykolly can be reached at fattykolly@yahoo.com
