Former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has declared his support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, urging Nigerians to respect the principle of rotational presidency by allowing power to remain in the South until 2031.
Amosun made the declaration on Sunday during his 68th birthday celebration at the Ake Pavilion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
He said permitting the South to complete its two-term cycle would help maintain political balance and strengthen equity within Nigeria’s democratic framework.
The former governor’s stance aligns with those earlier expressed by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, both of whom have publicly supported the idea of Southern retention of power beyond 2027.
Amosun warned that disregarding the informal zoning arrangement could pose a threat to Nigeria’s delicate unity.
The birthday event also served as a political rally, with a large turnout of supporters and associates filling the mini-stadium venue.
Several prominent figures of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were in attendance, including former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Lekan Adegbite; former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sarafa Tunji Ishola; former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Tunde Lemo; Senator Iyabo Anisulowo; and Senator Gbenga Obadara.
Amosun used the occasion to reaffirm his loyalty to the APC, insisting that he remains one of the party’s key figures in Ogun State.
He also praised President Tinubu’s leadership, describing his stewardship and representation of the Southwest and the wider South as “robust” and worthy of commendation.
“In the interest of Nigeria, we should observe the rotation. The South has been waiting for its turn, and with President Tinubu at the helm, we’re on the right path,” Amosun said.
“We’re proud of our heritage, and we won’t let anyone destroy our progress.
“In the interest of Nigeria, we should observe the rotation, in the sense that if the North takes the presidency this time, the South will have to take it the next time. The last president from the North was President Muhammadu Buhari. He did how many years? Eight years.
“Now, it is our turn in the South, and we have in the South, President Tinubu. Is there now someone representing all of us in Nigeria, primarily, but he’s from where? The Southwest! So, it’s representing all of us in the South. So, it’s indeed a good idea for anybody who loves Nigeria to agree that whatever we are doing, we should respect that rotational arrangement.
“That is why today, just like what I said when we were having our convention that time, not only in the interest of maybe even Asiwaju now or even any of us but in *the interest of all of us in Nigeria.
“So, I want to inform all of you: I have read a lot of things, but I want everybody to know if we say A, that is our A; if we say B, it would be B. We told them that we are what we are. In any case, in this Ogun State, how can they talk about APC without talking about Amosun? With all respect to all our leaders and our elders, I think probably the only person who will say in this Ogun State, when we were forming APC, was in the forefront, is Olusegun Osoba. When you take Osoba, who you will take next is me. That is why you do not destroy what you have built.”
