The Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), Yabagi Sani, said on Tuesday, July 1, that it would be difficult for northerners to believe Peter Obi’s pledge to serve only a single four-year term if elected president in 2027.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Sani noted that none of the presidential hopefuls for 2027, including Obi, is a saint.
During an X Space discussion on Sunday, June 23, Obi told his supporters that he would serve only one term if he wins the 2027 presidential election.
However, Sani argued that the dynamics of power change once politicians assume office.
He added that, based on the principle of power rotation, the northern region should produce the next president after eight years of southern rule.
Sani pointed out that President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from the South-West, will complete his first four-year term by May 2027 and is seeking re-election.
He said, “Yes, Mr Peter Obi can agree to say: ‘I am going to do one term,’ but the northerners will tell you that after Bola Tinubu’s term, if he gets a second term, it should come to the North.
“But we are human beings. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Peter Obi is not a saint; he is not somebody who is from another planet. We have seen successive governments trying to see how they can turn the constitution around and give themselves a third term and things like that.
“This is why it would be difficult for a lot of people to believe Mr Peter Obi that after one term, he would leave. And then how would he even succeed if you look at the sentimental aspect of it, the state capture, and power of incumbency.”
