Former Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Sheikh Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, has warned that denying President Bola Tinubu a second term could undermine the North-South power-sharing understanding and trigger a political crisis.
Pakistan argued that Tinubu’s re-election should be considered within the context of political reciprocity, insisting that the South should be allowed the same opportunity to complete two consecutive terms that the North enjoyed under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former NAHCON chairman made the position known on Tuesday while addressing youth groups at his residence in Kano, where he cautioned against opposing the president’s second-term ambition on the basis of his regional origin.
He maintained that the political support Tinubu gave Buhari during his presidency should count in the current debate over the transfer and retention of power between the two regions.
“The way Tinubu supported late Muhammadu Buhari and insisted that he completed his two terms, even though he was ill, and now some people are working hard to deny Tinubu a second term, we will fling the country into a political crisis in the future,” he said.
Pakistan further warned that denying a southern president the opportunity to serve two terms could complicate the prospects of future northern candidates seeking the same privilege.
“Nobody will allow any northerner to take two terms,” he said, arguing that political decisions driven by regional identity could establish a dangerous precedent for the country.
Beyond the question of power rotation, the former commission chairman defended the Tinubu administration’s record on security and food prices, citing what he described as improvements in travel safety along the Abuja-Kaduna highway and a decline in the cost of some staple food items.
He contrasted the present security situation with the period before Buhari left office, recalling attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna train service and the dangers associated with road travel between the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna.
“Up to the time Buhari finished his second term in office, a journey from Abuja to Kaduna was suicidal. You only heaved a sigh of relief when you arrived in Kaduna,” Pakistan said.
He added that travellers could now make the journey with greater confidence, while recalling that kidnappings and attacks on transport infrastructure had previously heightened public fears.
On food prices, Pakistan said the cost of a 50kg bag of rice had fallen from about ₦120,000 under Buhari to approximately ₦57,500 under Tinubu. He also put the price of a bag of millet at about ₦30,000, compared with ₦85,000 during the previous administration.
The figures were presented by Pakistan in support of his argument that the current administration had recorded some gains, although he did not provide independent data to establish the broader trend in food prices or insecurity.
He also attributed the emergence of banditry to the Buhari administration, while acknowledging that the former president inherited the Boko Haram insurgency.
Pakistan’s intervention adds a regional power-rotation argument to the debate over Tinubu’s re-election, shifting attention beyond party loyalty to questions of political fairness, precedent and the implications of denying either region a second consecutive presidential term.
