The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) against assuming that winning more than 30 states will ensure success in the 2027 elections.
Former Kano State governor Kwankwaso asserted that some governors, especially in Northern Nigeria, could find it difficult to publicly support President Bola Tinubu due to what he called their subpar performance.
At an NDC Town Hall Meeting in Rivers State on Thursday, he made the remarks.
According to Kwankwaso, a political party does not necessarily win an election if it has a large number of governors.
“The sitting president lost the election. I’m giving you an example, especially those who think because they have over 30 governors, they cannot lose the election. That is a very big mistake,” he said.
He said past elections had shown that an incumbent government could lose despite having strong political control across several states.
The former Kano governor also said some Northern governors may find it difficult to campaign for their parties in 2027 because of public dissatisfaction with their performance.
ALSO READ: CAN Warns Nigerians Against Proclaiming Any Presidential Candidate As A Messiah
“By the grace of God, all of them, especially the ones in the North, because I studied the trend. The trend is those governors and their party have performed woefully to the extent that it is very difficult for them even to come out and campaign,” he said.
Kwankwaso also questioned how governments have used the increased revenue available to them, saying higher allocations have not resulted in better living conditions for Nigerians.
He recalled that when he became governor in 1999, state and local governments received much less money.
“Now in one year, we have seen it on social media that our government collected over N1.11tn, just less than one year. You go around, what have you done with that money? Close to nothing,” he said.
According to him, the gap between government revenue and the living conditions of Nigerians is increasing public anger.
He said the situation is even more serious in Northern Nigeria because of the continued insecurity in the region.
