Prominent northern voices and the pro-North social-political group Arewa Consultative Forum have stated that the region cannot be compelled to re-elect President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Abdullahi Ganduje, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, was inappropriate to ask the North to wait until 2031 before running for president, according to the ACF and other northern leaders, who stated that no one could legitimately claim to be the spokesperson for the North.
They said as Ganduje warned northern politicians who were considering running for president in 2027 to put the notion out of their minds.
At the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday, Ganduje made this claim while welcoming a team from the Tinubu Northern Youth Forum and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre.
According to him, it would be unfair to deny Tinubu the chance of being re-elected after a fellow northerner was allowed to finish his tenure of eight years.
The APC National Chairman pledged that the party would religiously follow the zoning process by ensuring that the North-South sharing formula is strictly adhered to.
Ganduje said, “When a leader from the northern part of this country was in office for eight years, we advocated that the next president in our party should come from the south. Luckily enough, we worked very hard with the cooperation of Nigerians.
“Our president has come from the south and is going, Insha Allah, for a second term come 2027. And after that, it will be the turn of the northern part of this country.”
But a former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, shared an opinion by one Uche Diala, a member of the APC, who warned that if care is not taken President Tinubu may be given the ‘Goodluck Jonathan treatment’ ahead of the next presidential election.
El-Rufai shared on verified X handle, the opinion titled, ‘2027: South West, Tinubu’s supporters playing with fire – Part 1.’
The post asserted that the relationship between Tinubu and the North had deteriorated less than two years into his administration.
El-Rufai has been attacking the ruling party and the policies of the Tinubu government, even as political gladiators across the party lines continued to mull the idea of floating a coalition capable of defeating the APC.
The Arewa Consultative Forum rejected Ganduje’s call, stressing that the North cannot afford to wait till 2031 for Presidency.
Speaking with our correspondent, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, asserted that Ganduje’s comment is a reflection of the cult-like nature of the presidency, where allegiance to the president is paramount.
“Given the nature of the Presidency, it has become something like a cult; a personality cult and allegiance to the president because it looks like the president wants total allegiance and nothing else.
“We are in the season of politics and you should expect that those who are near the corridors of power should express those things. But it’s not constitutional,” Muhammad-Baba said.
He emphasised that voters cannot be influenced by force, saying it is up to them to endorse, reject, or modify Ganduje’s opinion.
“There’s nothing new in what Ganduje said. So many people have said so before. Not too long ago, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume said the same thing that northerners should forget about it until 2031.
“He or she or party members cannot influence voters by force. So, what he said was an opinion and his personal opinion and it’s up to the voters to endorse, reject or modify what he said. I think voters are becoming wise as to where the president comes from. In 2015, we were sold a dummy of anti-corruption.
“We were sold a dummy of many things and people have realized that it wasn’t true. Then, of course, the Renewed Hope came in 2023 and the hope is turning into a nightmare. What will sell President Bola Tinubu, I think and I hope, is not whether he will contest or not, it will be his policies and their impact on the people. If they buy it, fine,” he noted.
Mallam Salihu Lukman, a former APC National Vice Chairman (North-West), threw weight behind the position of the former Federal Capital Territory Minister.
He said “El-Rufai is not saying anything different from what I have been saying all these while. The only difference is that he is talking for the North while I talk for the whole country.”
Also, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has declared once again that he remains the right candidate for President in the 2027 general elections.
Through his Commissioner for Natural Resources Development, Maiwada Bello, Mohammed responded to Ganduje’s advice that the North should wait until 2031 for Tinubu to complete his second term before pursuing a presidential bid, calling the remark “foolish.”
As he appointed more young people to important government jobs than any other Nigerian governor, Bello called on the youngsters to unite behind Governor Mohammed, setting a national precedent.
The commissioner said the Bauchi governor’s bold move underscores his administration’s commitment to youth empowerment and inclusive governance, adding that he deserves the collective support of the Nigerian populace to propel him to the country’s highest political office in 2027.
He said, “We are committed to building a government that reflects the energy and innovation of the youth. No other administration in the country has given young people as many opportunities to serve in high-level positions as my administration.”
In an interview, a former ally-turned-foe of President Tinubu, Babachir Lawal, affirmed that the North can never forgive Tinubu over the manner he allegedly brought suffering to the region through his nail-biting reforms.
The former SGF reiterated El-Rufai’s warning that the North is massively mobilising its people ahead of the 2027 polls.
He stated, “The North is seriously mobilising with a consensus that Bola Tinubu must give way in the 2027 election. This is no doubt about the consensus. There’s no argument about that. I may not have been supporting El-Rufai’s position. But on this one, I will join him to see how we can stop Bola Tinubu from winning the 2027 election. Because if he does win, you know there will be one large refugee camp.
“So, there’s that consensus. Everybody understands that if we are to continue with these policies for another four years, northern Nigeria will become one large refugee camp. So, there’s a consensus that for self-preservation alone, we must look for another candidate.”
Babachir said the state of origin of the candidate doesn’t matter, noting that the important thing is for the candidate to understand the need for one Nigeria.
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He added, “Now, that is where quite several people think that it is only right to find someone who is patriotic and sees Nigeria as one, even if it’s from the South or the North. Some want it to come from the South while others are saying we cannot take the risk of bringing a Southerner for self-preservation alone. So, that is where the divergence is.
“But we all agree that we must look for a substitute for Bola Tinubu. Unfortunately, quite a lot of people like Ganduje and other northerners benefiting directly from this government are just irritants. They are people who are talking to justify their positions in this rogue government. So they are justifying their place in it not caring what the other parts of northern Nigeria are going through.
“So, if we can get a good southerner that can rule with equity, we are okay. It’s not actually about the elite consensus. It’s about the masses and what they are saying at the bottom. Even if some elite pretend to be supporting Bola, they will not vote for him because they are the ones at the receiving end of this thing. They are also the ones directing us, political elites of northern origin, to make sure this man doesn’t have a second chance.”
