An elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai has ruled out any candidate defeating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential elections.
Yakasai stated this Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
His position tallied with that of Deputy Senate President Barau I. Jibrin, who said with the rate of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the odds favoured Tinubu to seamlessly return for 4-year tenure.
…Yakasai on NEF, ACF’s positions
In the interview with NAN, Alhaji Yakasai said as a key member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, he was not aware of any forum where a position was taken by the north supporting a candidate from the zone for the 2027 presidential election.
“I haven’t heard anybody making any proposition about the 2027 presidential election from Arewa Consultative Forum.
“What is tagged the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders Forum’s position is mere individual opinions, because all sections of the north have not taken a stand on this,” he said.
Yakasai said that Nigerians should wait until the northerners meet and officially take a position.
“In Nigeria today, Bola Tinubu is the president. He has his ministers and governors who are backing him.
“Who else has all what it takes to move into the contest with the kind of stamina and strength to be more successful comparatively with Tinubu?” he asked.
Yakasai said that aside the ruling APC controlling majority of states, there are some other governors from the opposition parties still supporting Tinubu.
“We should all wait and see if the picture will change drastically, otherwise for now, the odds are in his (Tinubu’s) favour because I have not seen anything that will prevent him from winning the next election.
“He hasn’t done anything against the north in my understanding and the north alone cannot decide who becomes the president of the country,” he said.
According to him, the crisis rocking some of the major opposition parties has further softened the grounds for Tinubu to win in 2027.
In terms of assessment of the administration in the last two years, Yakasai said that he would not do so, for now.
He, however, advised Nigerian politicians to always have the interest of the masses at the centre of their actions and plans.
“Our politicians should see politics as a dynamic game and what I will advise is for them to play the game on the basis of ideology and programmes.
“Let them envision the way they want the country to be and not targeting to be ministers, governors and president.
“After becoming all these and nothing is done in the interest of the country, we will not get better.
“They should eschew politics of ethnicity and religion because not making our country the focal point of our politics has held us down for so long,” he said.
…On longevity
On the factors he could attribute his longevity to; Yakasai who would turn 100 years in December said it was a gift from God.
He said that his father died at the age of 107 years and that his mother died at almost 100 years, adding that the combined effects of the two might have equally contributed to his longevity.
“My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are more than 80 and still expanding. I give glory to God for these,” he said.
…DSP Jibrin
Speaking along same line at the APC North West Stakeholders meeting which held in Kaduna at the weekend, Deputy Senate President Jibrin called for unity among party members to ensure the success of the Tinubu-led administration.
He said: “It is clear in 2027; we are going to have a landslide victory, in sha Allah. So let us continue on the way we are going. Let us continue to cooperate with one another, work with the president, work with everybody, cooperate amongst ourselves so that we have the desired victory.”
He said the defection of stalwarts of the opposition political parties to the APC was as a result of the performance of President Tinubu in addressing the challenges bedeviling the country.
“This is not happening just for nothing. There are reasons for this. What are the reasons? Number one is the performance of our dear president. The president, of course, inherited a lot of challenges, bedeviling our country. But he has come up with programs and policies to surmount these challenges.
“Security challenges, economic challenges, name them. We’ve seen how he has dealt with our problem, our security problem—the security we’ve been facing in the North West. Several areas were not accessible before now. You could not go to some areas before now. But now you can go to some places, you can travel from Abuja to Kaduna.This was quite impossible before he came to power.
“Similarly, before this administration, you could not go to Birnin Gwari, but life has returned to the area. The people have returned to their farmlands
“Several areas that were not accessible are now accessible. We know we are not where we want to be. We are not there yet. We are not finally there yet. But it’s a work in progress. Mr President is working hard, day in and day out, to surmount this country’s insecurity problem, particularly in the North West. It is a work in progress. It is easy to have problems, but it’s not easy to solve the problems.
“And of course, that is not alone. That is not the only reason why we are having these influxes to our party. The performance of our governors. Our governors are doing well, working day in, day out,” he said.
Continuing, Jibrin said: “The chairman, the national chairman of our party, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is leading all the party leaders in the country to bring about these improvements we are witnessing in APC. We are all here as brothers and sisters.
“So let us continue to cooperate amongst ourselves, work amongst ourselves, do all that is humanly possible to bring about the needed development to our people so that our party can grow stronger and stronger.
“So that by 2027, we will not have any problem in making sure that we have the expected victory that we are beginning to see. Because as we speak, it looks as if you don’t have any other political party in the country, or even in the northwest. So it is always said.”
…Uba Sani
In his remarks, Kaduna state Governor Uba Sani said the North West zone was faring better under the Tinubu administration.
He said President Tinubu “took control of our nation’s affairs at one of the most difficult times in its history.’’
Sani, who is the Coordinating Governor of APC in the North West, said Tinubu was not afraid to take tough decisions as “he embarked on bold reforms with uncommon courage. ’Nigerians are also beginning to appreciate the fact that Mr. President means well for our country.
“As things begin to pick up, the APC has become the choice destination for politicians and citizens generally.”
Recalling the situation in the zone before now, he said: “Before President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, the North West Zone was the ‘epicenter’ of banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other violent crimes.
‘’You could hardly travel from one place to another. Farmers could hardly access their farmers. Life was indeed ‘nasty, short, and brutish’ in the North West. At a point, the situation appeared hopeless. But two years in the saddle, the situation has changed.
‘’President Tinubu has not only stabilized the security situation, he has boosted agriculture in the North West with the provision of farm inputs.”
“North West has also gotten top positions at the federal level. For the first time, the North West Zone has 12 Ministers in the Federal Cabinet.
“We have the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Senate President, the National Chairman of the APC, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff. There are many other important appointments which I may not be able to mention here because of time,’” he added.
The governor listed some projects that the Tinubu administration was embarking on in the North West to include the completion of the Abuja- Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway.’
He also mentioned the Ilella-Badagry Road Project, the Kaduna and Kano Rail Projects, the construction of Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Road and the construction of Jere to Kafanchan Road.
Similarly, he said the zone also had the provision of N95 billion for the rehabilitation of three dams in Kano, the creation of the strategic Ministry of Livestock Development and the “creation of the North West Development Commission and the allocation of the highest budget to it among the regional development commissions.”
The governor credited the Tinubu administration with the “creation of the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State and the conversion of Patrick Yakowa General Hospital, Kafanchan to a Federal Medical Centre.”
“We have in Mr. President, a true father and friend. Let us therefore consolidate on our gains by mobilizing our people to support Mr. President for a second term in office.
“Mr. President is on a mission: to reinvent our economy, banish hunger and poverty, and return Nigeria to its rightful place in the comity of nations,” Sani added.