Sumner Sambo, who leads the news department at Arise Television, recently asserted that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s decision to pursue the presidency in 2027, regardless of existing zoning conventions, serves to enhance the nation’s democratic development.
Speaking during Monday’s broadcast of the Arise Television Morning Show, Sambo emphasized that Nigeria’s constitution explicitly permits any eligible citizen to seek the presidential office. He argued that rotational presidency remains an informal, unofficial practice that has historically hindered true meritocracy. Sambo suggested that by challenging the expectations surrounding the regional turn of power, politicians might be pushed away from the complacency often caused by waiting for a turn based on zoning.
Sambo further noted that the current approach to rotation does not reflect the original recommendations from the 1995 conference report by Alex Ekweme, which proposed a specific rotation across six geopolitical zones followed by an eventual return to a merit-based system. He concluded that Nigeria requires deeper political reforms to move beyond these informal arrangements and prioritize merit in future electoral cycles.
