Succession battle brews as Northern bigwigs position for 2031 - Businessday NG

… Atiku’s 2027 bid may alter calculations – Analyst

Even as Nigeria’s political class remains fixated on the immediate calculations of the 2027 presidential election, a potentially more consequential battle is quietly taking shape in the background; the struggle for the post-Tinubu presidency.

While some of the leading 2027 presidential running mates are already leveraging the election to build national visibility and consolidate their political networks, other influential Northern politicians are quietly positioning themselves for the succession contest, making 2031 an election many political actors may already be planning for.

Analysts say the succession battle has effectively begun with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s decision to contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

BusinessDay reports that his candidacy challenges the prevailing political convention of power rotation between the North and the South and signals that the North is not prepared to wait passively for the presidency to return to the region after President Bola Tinubu’s possible second term.