Osita Okechukwu, one of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said none of the current political figures positioning themselves to inherit former President Muhammadu Buhari’s widely referenced 12 million “Vote bank” possesses the integrity or credentials to do so.

Speaking at an interdenominational church service held in Abuja on Sunday in honour of the late former President Buhari, Okechukwu said Buhari’s unique moral standing and public service record remain unmatched in Nigeria’s contemporary political landscape.

Okechukwu, who also served as Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) said emphasised that Buhari’s political success in the North stemmed not from ethnic sentiments but from decades of transparent leadership and public trust.

He highlighted his service between 1975 and 2025 in various roles — including Governor of the defunct North-East, Federal Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, GOC of three Army divisions, Chairman of PTF, Military Head of State, and eventually Civilian President — all without blemish.

“With the greatest respect to prominent politicians who are expected to inherit late President Buhari’s much-celebrated 12 million vote-bank, I must submit that Buhari’s shoes are too big.

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“His uncommon humanity, integrity, transparency quotient, and moral compass make such ambitions herculean and, frankly, antithetical,” Okechukwu said.

Okechukwu also criticised politicians from “Sister parties” like the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who, he claimed, are attempting to ride on Buhari’s northern appeal by invoking ethnic loyalties.

“Flying the northern card is a mirage,” he said, citing the northern electorate’s sophistication, as shown in their support for Moshood Abiola in 1993 and Bola Tinubu in 2023. “They are not easily swayed by ethnic slogans or manufactured loyalty.”

The APC chieftain further warned that such manoeuvres threaten the two-term rotation convention between Nigeria’s northern and southern regions, a system he described as one of the pillars of the country’s Fourth Republic democracy and national unity.

Okechukwu also applauded former governors Tanko Al-Makura and Aminu Masari for frustrating efforts to absorb members of Buhari’s defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) into the ADC, calling such attempts a “kangaroo bid.”

He concluded with a call for caution among political actors:

“None of them has Buhari’s discipline or subscribes to the Talakawa (proletarian) ideology of Malam Aminu Kano, which was central to Buhari’s cult following in the North. They must tread softly and respect the principles of equity, justice, and fairness.”