RismadarVoice Reporters
September 28, 2026
Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has urged northern presidential aspirants to wait until 2031 before seeking the presidency, arguing that the South should be allowed to complete what he described as an eight-year rotational cycle.
Yusuf made the call on Sunday at the Kano State Government House while receiving 50 campaign vehicles donated by Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, to support grassroots mobilisation for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The governor said his position was based on what he described as an existing political understanding that presidential power should rotate between the North and South, with each region given an opportunity to hold the office for eight years.
He cited the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2023, after which the presidency returned to the South following Tinubu’s election.
“President Tinubu has been serving Nigeria for the last three and a half years. Now we are coming for another election,” Yusuf said.
“Therefore, it is our responsibility as Nigerians to agree that the President should be re-elected for another term of office to complete the eight years that we promised that the South would stay.”
Yusuf said northern political stakeholders should exercise patience until 2031, when, according to the arrangement he described, the presidency would be expected to return to the North.
“By 2031, the agreement will have been concluded. North, eight years gone; South, by 2031, will be eight years in government.
“At the end of that, power will come back to the North. And only Allah knows who will be the President then of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
The rotational arrangement referenced by Yusuf is a political convention rather than a constitutional requirement. Nigeria’s Constitution does not mandate that the presidency alternate between the North and South every eight years.
Yusuf said he believed the arrangement could promote fairness, national cohesion and a sense of belonging among Nigerians from different regions.
The governor also called for peaceful and issue-based campaigns ahead of the 2027 elections.
He urged political parties, candidates and their supporters to focus on policies, programmes, records in office and development proposals rather than personal attacks and inflammatory rhetoric.
Yusuf said the 50 vehicles donated by Tompolo would be deployed to support political structures and mobilisation activities across Kano State.
The vehicles were donated to the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, which is campaigning for Tinubu’s re-election and expanding its grassroots mobilisation activities ahead of the election.
Yusuf thanked Tompolo for the donation and reiterated his position that northern political interests should support Tinubu in 2027 before seeking a return of the presidency to the North in 2031.
His comments add to the continuing political debate over zoning, regional representation and the informal rotation of Nigeria’s presidency as parties and candidates intensify preparations for the 2027 general elections.
