The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has disclosed that he and the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, signed a written agreement committing the former Anambra State governor to serve only one four-year term if they win the 2027 presidential election.
Kwankwaso, who made the revelation during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, said the agreement forms part of a broader political understanding designed to ensure that the presidency returns to the North after a single tenure.
Speaking on Obi’s commitment to relinquish power after four years, the former Kano State governor expressed confidence that the NDC presidential candidate would honour the pact.
“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,” he said.
Confirming that the understanding was formally documented, Kwankwaso said both the party and the two candidates had executed separate agreements.
“We have done one for the party, and we have done another one between the two of us,” he stated.
He explained that the agreement provides for a united political front during a single four-year administration before power shifts back to the northern region.
“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,” Kwankwaso said.
The former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) also explained why he agreed to become Obi’s running mate after previously pursuing the nation’s highest office himself.
According to him, both leaders concluded that allowing the South to produce the president for one term would promote national unity and strengthen the country’s political balance.
“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 that we can move together as a family, both North and South,” he said.
Asked whether he intended to seek the presidency when the proposed four-year arrangement expires in 2031, Kwankwaso declined to make any commitment, saying the party’s immediate focus is on the 2027 election while keeping its long-term political vision intact.
“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,” he said.
Obi had first announced his intention to serve only one term during a public engagement in May, arguing that a single tenure would provide the political stability needed to reset the country.
At the time, he declared: “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.”
Kwankwaso’s latest disclosure now confirms that the one-term commitment is not only a public promise but also part of a written political agreement between the NDC leadership and its presidential and vice-presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 general election.
(Ripples)