By Cynthia Alo
LAGOS—Former governor of Kano State and vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said yesterday he believed the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would honour his pledge to serve only one four-year term if elected in 2027, revealing that both men signed a written agreement to that effect.
Kwankwaso, who disclosed this in an interview on Channels Television, said both of them signed a written agreement on this. According to him, the agreement provides that power will return to the North after a single four-year tenure of Obi.
On whether he believed Obi would honour the agreement, the former Kano governor said he had no reason to doubt the former Anambra State governor.
He said: “Oh yes, I personally believe him and I don’t think, based on what I now know about him, he will change his mind when the time comes, and we are all gentlemen, even though we have accepted to put it on paper.”
While reiterating that the agreement signed by both of them was sacrosanct, Kwankwaso also said they equally signed a separate agreement with the party on the issue.
“We have done one for the party, and we have done another one between the two of us,” he said.
Explaining the contents of the agreement, he said: “The agreement is what you said, that after four years we will work together, team together as a group, as a party, as friends, brothers and so on so that after his term, or our term, of four years, 2027 to 2031, then it comes back to the North, and that is the general agreement.”
On why he accepted the vice-presidential slot, despite previously pursuing the presidency, Kwankwaso said the current political circumstances supported a four-year southern presidency before power returns to the North.
He added: “Together we felt that the presidency should go to the South for four years; thereafter it will come back to the North.
“We believe that should be the consensus of everybody in this country, so we can move together as a family, both North and South.”
When asked if he planned to contest the presidency in 2031, Kwankwaso said the party was focused on its immediate objective while keeping future plans in view.
He said: “We have a short-term plan which we are executing now and, of course, we also have our medium- and long-term plans for the country, and that is what we are working on now.”
Recall that Peter Obi had severally declared he would serve only one term of four years if elected president in 2027.
“I want to be a one-term president because of stability. I would not stay a day, with a gun to my head, longer than four years,” Obi had said.
His declaration drew criticism from opposition political parties, which argued that the NDC presidential candidate would not keep his promise if elected president in 2027.
