Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Presidency on Sunday justified the present energy rotation between the North and the South by umploring the North to honour the present eight-year tenure being served by the South to completion, within the curiosity of reciprocity and nationwide stability.
Specifically, it stated Nigeria’s nationwide stability hangs by a slender thread, demanding that the North honour the unwritten energy rotation pact and permit the South to finish its full eight-year tenure, warning that breaking this foundational belief may jeopardise the nation’s unity.
Personal Assistant to the President on Radio and Broadcast (Office of the Vice President), Hajya Rahma Abdulmajid, acknowledged this in Kano throughout the Grand Inauguration & Strategic Media Awards Ceremony of Matan Arewa 4 Tinubu Again (MATA).
According to her, Nigeria’s energy rotation association isn’t a sectional concession however a reciprocal compact that has stabilised the Fourth Republic.
In a veiled reference to former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, who she recalled attended and took part within the well-known Kaduna assembly the place the facility rotation settlement was reached, Abdulmajid argued that the North can’t sacrifice the soundness of Nigeria for the ambition of 1 man.
Tracing the origin to Kaduna, she famous that when navy rule ended, patriots negotiated a framework for unity, sustaining, simply as he stated, “And present in that room was Atiku Abubakar himself, as later confirmed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume.
“Chief Sunday Awoniyi, the great Northern elder, stood up in 1998 and declared that the North should not field a candidate, in order to heal the wounds of June 12 and soothe the pain of the South.”
She additional listed different patriots who formed the understanding to incorporate Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, talking for the South; Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, talking for the North; Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo.
Insisting on the facility rotation association, the presidency stated, “In 1999, when the guns of military rule finally fell silent, this nation did not just switch governments—we made a sacred promise. Our founding patriots gathered in Kaduna with one urgent, defining question echo-chambered in their minds: How do we keep Nigeria one?
“And from that sacred deliberation came a compact: not a sectional concession, but a reciprocal agreement. This gentleman’s agreement decreed that power must rotate between North and South every eight years—an arrangement to guarantee fairness, to ensure stability, and to guarantee that no Nigerian ever feels like a stranger in his own country.”
On how the association labored, Abdulmajid stated it survived as a result of it was honoured.
“This is not fiction. This is our history. And how did it work? It worked because we honoured it. In 1999, we gave it to the South—Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, eight years, from 1999 to 2007. Then we gave it to the North: Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007. But death, a painful death, cut his tenure short in 2010.
“His vice, Goodluck Jonathan from the South, took over. The North felt cheated. The North said our turn was not complete, and that agitation was legitimate. What happened? In 2015, power returned to the North. The late former President Muhammadu Buhari, eight full years, 2015 to 2023! The sequence was restored! The principle survived,” she acknowledged.
The presidency contended that the settlement is a two-way road and the North has already taken its full profit.
“My people, listen to me. The agreement is reciprocal; it is a two-way street. The North has already taken its full benefit after eight solid years under Buhari. You cannot eat your cake and still demand another man’s cake,” Abdulmajid stated
The presidential aide harassed that stability requires reciprocity, recalling that the present President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Southerner, labored tirelessly for the late General Muhammadu Buhari to emerge victorious when the North demanded energy should return after Jonathan’s tenure.
“That same logic applies today. You cannot abandon a principle when it becomes inconvenient. If you do, you tell the world that the agreement was never a principle at all—merely a temporary tactic. And if we destroy trust today, what will we use to negotiate tomorrow? Let us be honest. Much of this noise against the South completing its term is not a matter of principle. It is personal ambition,” she queried.
Attributing opposition to the South finishing its time period to private ambition, Abdulmajid stated, “Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar tells us zoning is “self-defeating.” But he participated in and benefited from zoned preparations in 2015 and 2019 after they favored his ambition! When rotation opened the door for him, it was acceptable. When it stands in his method, it turns into “intellectually dishonest.”
“Shall we sacrifice Nigeria’s stability for one man’s ambition? The North’s genuine interest is not served by that; the North’s interest is stable inclusion. The guarantee that power will return to you only lives if we honour the compact today.”
The presidency appealed to the North to not break the sacred promise that binds nation, urging the folks of the area to rise collectively and full the Southern tenure, describing it as not merely an election.
“This is for our honour. This is for reciprocity. This is for the enduring stability and peaceful coexistence of our great nation. That is exactly what the re-election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term stands for. That is the future we build today,” it added.
Also talking, Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, corroborated Abdulmajid’s place, saying the unity of Nigeria can solely be assured by truthful play and inclusivity.
The governor who was represented by his Director-General of Media and Publicity, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, argued that reversing the present rotational association will paint the North in ignoble mild, whilst he urged the area to take care of the established order by re-electing President Tinubu for a second time period.
In his remarks, former Governor of Jigawa State and instant previous Minister of Defence, Mohammad Abubakar Badaru, stated the Renewed Hope Administration of President Tinubu has benefited the North greater than some other a part of Nigeria.
Badaru listed main accomplished street initiatives to incorporate the 88km Zuba-Jere part and the 81km Abuja-Kaduna part of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway commissioned in October 2026, the 77km Kaduna-Pambeguwa street, Yakasai-Badume-Damargu-Marken Zalli roads in Kano, and the Jimeta Bridge in Yola.
On social infrastructure, Badaru cited accomplished well being services corresponding to Gadon Kaya PHC in Kano, three Polio Emergency Centers in Katsina, Kano and Sokoto, pharmacy lab at ABUTH Zaria, 50-bed psychological well being heart at UNIMAID, and infertility heart at ATBUTH Bauchi, plus ongoing upgrades at Bichi General Hospital and deployment of 79 CNG ambulances.
