A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has dismissed claims by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that a national consensus could remove President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Speaking in Enugu while briefing members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Okechukwu said the CPC bloc had resolved to back Tinubu in the next election and would deliver a significant portion of the 12 million votes historically associated with former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Reacting to reports of ADC’s position, he stressed that the only enduring consensus in Nigeria’s politics is the rotation of the presidency between the North and South.

According to him, “The reality is that most Nigerians, whether partisan or not, support the unwritten agreement that the presidency should alternate between North and South. This arrangement, instituted in 1999, remains a cornerstone of the Fourth Republic to uphold equity, justice, and fairness.”

He went on to describe politicians who moved from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ADC as “Internally Displaced Politicians (IDPs)” desperate for power, advising them to return and rebuild the PDP instead of destabilising other platforms.

Okechukwu accused these politicians of undermining the rotation principle, noting that they were responsible for their own setbacks. “Did Tinubu compel them to breach the zoning arrangement or Section 7 of the PDP Constitution in 2023?” he asked rhetorically.

He expressed surprise that, despite PDP leaders recently reaffirming zoning to the South, ADC members still dismissed the rotation principle. “Rather than embrace this pragmatic model, they are stuck in endless blame games, attempting to discard the very convention that has held our diverse nation together,” he said.

Okechukwu insisted that Tinubu would secure a large share of Buhari’s traditional 12 million votes, stressing that northern voters should not be underestimated. “The ADC assumes northern electorates can be swayed like a bloc in a dormitory, but that’s a mirage. They are among the most sophisticated voters in Nigeria,” he concluded.