Hundreds of stakeholders and party leaders from the North-Central announced on Thursday that after 65 years of marginalisation, they have agreed to work together to produce the next President in the 2027 election.
They, however, gave a condition that they may back the re-election bid of President Bola Tinubu if he will be willing to sacrifice the current Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima and pick one of their own as running mate at the next poll.
The politicians, which comprised representatives from the six states of the North-Central namely Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory, gave the demand at a press conference in Abuja.
Addressing journalists, the leader of the conference and Chairman of the North-Central Renaissance Movement, Prof. Nghargbu K’tso, decried that their people have been relegated to the position of minority and second-class citizens in a country that belongs to all.
He said, “As Nigeria prepares to mark 65 years as an independent sovereign nation-state by 1st October 2025, it will also mark 65 years of political exclusion of the North Central geopolitical zone, which hosts Nigeria’s seat of power and the FCT, from producing and holding any of the two highest offices in the land.
“The North Central zone has repeatedly been marginalised and deprived of the chance to produce Nigeria’s elected President or Vice President. The region is also one of the most insecure geopolitical zones in the country and the theatre of the most gruesome loss of lives and crippling poverty today.
“We have been reduced to the status of a minority in the majority and seen as not being capable of serving the nation in the highest offices.”
While analysing the political trajectory of leadership in the country, the professor of medical geologists at Nasarawa State University lamented that a close study of Nigeria’s presidents and vice presidents since 1999 reveals that only the North-Central and South-East geopolitical zones have never held the highest office in the 26 years of the Fourth Republic.
The coalition, however, acknowledged that the situation in the North-Central was worse than the South-East, which it said had the privilege of producing Dr Alex Ekwueme, who served as vice president from 1979 to 1983, having won re-election for a second term under former President Shehu Shagari before they were ousted by the military.
K’tso said, “It is on this premise that we, the North Central Renaissance Movement, demand in the interest of fairness, equity and justice that the Office of President of Nigeria be ceded to the North Central in 2027. Our time is now!
“If the ruling APC chooses to give President Bola Tinubu the right of first refusal to fly the party’s ticket in 2027, then it must ensure his running mate emerges from North Central.
“He must be ready to drop the vice president and pick somebody from the North-Central while other political parties must feature presidential candidates from the zone.”
