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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has said the contest for the 2027 presidency has helped douse separatist agitations in parts of southern Nigeria, attributing the development to renewed hope that people from the region can aspire to lead the country.
The former senator, who is seeking a return to the Senate on the ticket of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to represent Kaduna Central, expressed confidence in his party’s prospects in the state.
Sani said the prospect of having a southerner in the presidential race had contributed to the decline in agitation for the secession of parts of the South, particularly among groups advocating for an independent Biafran state.
The senatorial hopeful spoke during an interview with select journalists in Kaduna on Friday, where he addressed the 2027 presidential election, power rotation, insecurity in northern Nigeria and the need for effective representation at the National Assembly.
He argued that allowing the South to complete its turn in the presidency was crucial to sustaining the trend, warning that any attempt by northern political leaders to reclaim power in 2027 could rekindle separatist sentiments and threaten national unity.
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“Today, if you look at it, the agitation for Biafra has gone to the lowest point because they are hopeful that one of their own is contesting the presidency of this country,” he said.
The former lawmaker maintained that the opportunity for southern politicians to contest for the presidency had helped sustain confidence in the Nigerian political system among groups that had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the political structure of the country.
He also cited agitation for a Yoruba republic and a Niger Delta republic, arguing that such movements had witnessed a decline as the prospect of southern political leadership gained prominence.
According to him, disrupting the informal power-sharing arrangement could reverse the trend and deepen feelings of political exclusion among communities in the South.
Sani argued that the North should allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to complete the South’s turn before seeking to produce another president, insisting that the eight years spent in office by former President Muhammadu Buhari made such an arrangement politically reasonable.
