The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has revealed that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, signed a written agreement committing to serve only one four-year term if elected president in 2027.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, the former Kano State governor said the agreement forms part of the NDC’s power-sharing arrangement, which provides for the presidency to return to the North after a single term.
Kwankwaso said he has no doubts that Obi will honour the agreement.
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“Oh yes, I personally believe him. I don’t think, based on what I now know about him, that he will change his mind when the time comes. We are all gentlemen,” he said.
Asked whether the understanding was merely verbal, Kwankwaso disclosed that both the party and the presidential ticket signed separate written agreements.
“We have done one for the party, and we have done another one between the two of us,” he said.
According to him, the agreement clearly states that Obi would serve for only one term from 2027 to 2031, after which power would rotate back to the North.
“The agreement is what you said, that for four years, we will work together, team together as a group, party, friends and brothers so that after his term of four years (2027-2031), it comes back to the North. That is the general agreement.”
Kwankwaso explained that he accepted the vice-presidential nomination because both leaders agreed that, for the sake of national unity and fairness, the South should retain the presidency for only one term before power returns to the North.
“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.”
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Asked whether he plans to contest the presidency in 2031, Kwankwaso declined to make any declaration, saying the party is concentrating on winning the 2027 election while keeping its long-term political strategy in view.
“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 first announced in May 2026 that he would serve for only one term if elected president, saying a single tenure would promote political stability, strengthen national unity and deepen the country’s democratic culture.
“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,” Obi had said.
The NDC has consistently defended the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket as a consensus arrangement designed to balance Nigeria’s regional interests ahead of the 2027 general election.
