Mr Osita Okechukwu is a foundation member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

CAN the opposition defeat President Tinubu and APC in the 2027 general elections?

May I respectfully submit that the man I have great respect for, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, inadvertently saved the day for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and, by extension, my great party, the All Progressives Congress, through his breach of the zoning convention. This is the second time he is regrettably in this unforced error scenario, first was in 2023.

How did Atiku save Tinubu and your party?

Recall that the presidential election comes first. Had Atiku respected the zoning convention, the APC could have faced a far more formidable opposition coalition after the destabilisation of the PDP. In fact, the very day the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was transformed into what many now regard as Atiku’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), it became obvious that President Tinubu and the APC had been politically rescued. Perhaps it is the will of Almighty God, because President Tinubu means well for the country by courageously embarking on difficult economic reforms despite their painful consequences. History has shown that such harsh economic policies have consumed many presidents before the intended long-term benefits materialised, largely because citizens naturally seek immediate relief.

Then what happened?

Luckily for President Tinubu, Atiku failed to learn from history — namely, how his breach of the zoning convention damaged our sister opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).Ironically, this is the same man who often romanticises the era of Sir Ahmadu Bello’s dominance, instead of embracing a future built on multilateral accommodation and national inclusion, which the zoning convention epitomises and was designed to promote since 1999. Many thought that after the 2019 bid for presidency, he could have done what Tinubu did, sit down, introspect and decide patriotically that it is better to support a southern president instead of running against the turbulent wind of zoning convention. Which today is still his albatross.

What has that got to do with the Constitution, where zoning is not mentioned?

Kindly note that in public affairs, there are laws with legal force and conventions with moral authority. Human societies since the cradle of civilisation have been governed by both. Please do ask yourself why do scholars often say that Britain has no single written constitution? It is because much of its governance rests on conventions that command moral legitimacy and works for their good governance. Coming home, where in the 1999 Constitution are the six geopolitical zones — North West, North East, North Central, South West, South East, and South South — expressly created? Yet they remain integral to our political structure because conventions often evolve into stabilising national principles. We should also remember vividly that the Waziri Adamawa once stormed out of the PDP convention in protest, arguing that then-President Goodluck Jonathan was usurping the North’s turn. Similarly, during the PDP’s 2018 presidential primary, only northern aspirants contested and Atiku emerged victorious. As if misadventure bound to happen, in 2023, with his cohorts, they openly breached both the zoning convention and Section 7 of the PDP Constitution. This was the birth of Nyesom Wike’s Masquerade of five Governors, a raging inferno till date. Many expected him to rise to the occasion as a statesman who would place national peace, equity, and unity above personal ambition. That was not to be.

Some had accused Obi of being a nomadic politician who is afraid to face Atiku and others in presidential primary election?

I am not Obi’s spokesmen, this question is better for them not me, a foundation and committed member of APC. However the little one recalls is that Obi has phobia for dollarised presidential primary.

What is your opinion about the mass defections dominating the political landscape recently?

Permit me to describe the unwarranted defections as another form of political banditry — taking undue advantage of the system at the expense of democratic stability. We are all aware that the Constitution does not provide for independent candidacy. Political parties are therefore the constitutional platforms for contesting elections. Ironically, the same constitutional safeguards designed to strengthen party democracy are now being recklessly undermined. Sincerely, one laments these defections because they ultimately weaken the power of the people, make mockery of internal democracy and diminish ideological commitment within our democratic system. (Sunday Tribune)