Adamawa State Governor Umaru Fintiri has said northerners should not contest the presidency in 2027, insisting that it is the South’s turn to complete its eight-year tenure.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Fintiri said leadership rotation must be respected.
“Nobody in the North has business at the moment to vie for the office of the president. It is the South’s turn; they should complete their eight years if we are really serious about this country and leadership,” he stated.
The statement is seen as a blow to the aspirations of his political godfather, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from Adamawa State, who is reportedly putting up structures to recontest the presidency in 2027.
Fintiri only recently ditched his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor defended his defection, saying it was motivated by the welfare of Adamawa State.
“The move was purely in the interest of the people and the state… because for long, it is not about winning elections but aligning and getting more for our people,” he explained.
He clarified that his relationship with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar remains cordial despite their different political paths.
“There is nothing that has gone bad. It is just that everybody has taken their political ways, and I am today in APC, they are in another party,” he said.
On insecurity, Fintiri backed the creation of state police as the most effective solution, a policy proposition previously unpopular with northern governors.
He now argued that properly motivated and equipped state forces could secure ungoverned areas.
“Of course, for now, that is the only answer. We can’t ask that we have a private army, but we can have the state police, which, to me, if properly motivated and equipped, can cover those areas,” he added.
His remarks followed a recent Boko Haram attack in Adamawa where 18 people were reportedly killed.
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