By Emmanuel Adebanjo
Peter Obi, I have a serious question for you, and I believe Nigerians deserve a serious answer.
How can a man of your calibre, who is asking Nigerians to entrust him with the leadership of a country as complex and troubled as Nigeria, willingly agree to serve only one four-year term?
You have said publicly that you are prepared to serve for four years and not a day more. Rabiu Kwankwaso has also confirmed that you and he signed an agreement under which, after your four years from 2027 to 2031, the presidency would return to the North.
Peter Obi, this is where I find your position deeply troubling.
The Nigerian presidency is not an award to be collected simply so that one’s name can be written in the history books. It is a national responsibility requiring enough time to build institutions, reform the economy, confront insecurity, rebuild infrastructure, strengthen education and healthcare, and establish policies that can survive beyond one administration.
If Nigerians give you four years, why voluntarily surrender the constitutional opportunity to seek another term?
And here is the question Nigerians must ask:
What happens after your four years?
If the agreement is that power returns to the North in 2031, what guarantees do Nigerians have that the next administration will regard your four-year term as the beginning of a national transformation rather than simply a political arrangement for sharing power?
You may personally trust the agreement. You may believe that everybody involved will honour it. But politics is not built on personal trust alone. It is built on institutions, constitutional principles and the national interest.
My concern is not whether the North deserves the presidency or whether the South deserves it. Every Nigerian, North or South, deserves equal opportunity.
My concern is that the presidency of Nigeria should not become a bargaining chip between political blocs.
Peter Obi, Nigerians need to know whether you are seeking the presidency because you genuinely intend to undertake the difficult work of rebuilding Nigeria, or whether you are prepared to accept a predetermined four-year arrangement simply because it gives you the opportunity to become president.
If you believe you can transform Nigeria, why voluntarily limit yourself before you even begin?
If your answer is that four years is enough to put Nigeria on the right path, then tell Nigerians exactly what you intend to accomplish within those four years—and why you believe the work should automatically be handed over to another political bloc afterward.
Nigeria needs a president elected to serve Nigerians, not a president whose tenure is predetermined by a political agreement.
This is bigger than Peter Obi. It is bigger than Rabiu Kwankwaso. It is bigger than North versus South.
It is about Nigeria.
And Nigerians have every right to ask: Why should the future of the Nigerian presidency be decided in a private agreement before Nigerians have even voted?
Emmanuel Adebanjo
Concern Citizen & Public Awareness Advocates
