2027: Power should remain in Southern Nigeria — Culture Minister

Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, has said political power should remain in Southern Nigeria beyond 2027 to maintain regional balance and fairness in the country’s leadership.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Musawa acknowledged Nigeria’s unofficial zoning arrangement, which informally rotates the presidency between the North and the South. She argued that in the spirit of equity, the South should retain power for at least another four to six years.

“So, it is understandable that after eight years of President Buhari, who is from the North, power needed to shift down to the South, right?” Musawa said. “Now, for the next two years, four years, it is going to be with the southern presidency, and hopefully, power should continue for the next four years after that to be with the southern presidency only to create that sort of balance.”

Musawa’s comments come amid ongoing debate about zoning and succession ahead of the 2027 general election. President Bola Tinubu, a southerner from the South-West, succeeded former President Muhammadu Buhari from the North-West, following the rotational convention.

While a newly formed political coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reignited the conversation around where the next president should come from, Musawa urged the political class to respect the zoning principle for now, even as Nigeria works toward merit-based leadership in the future.

“Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to get over that, and candidates will only be judged on their capacity and what they have to bring to the table,” she said. “But since we are not there yet, for the benefit of this politics now, power should certainly, for the next four to six years, remain in the southern part of the country.”

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE