The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Nentawe Yilwatda, has predicted that the North will give President Bola Tinubu more than 70 per cent of its votes in the 2027 presidential election.
Yilwatda made the prediction on Saturday at the commissioning of the Arewa for Asiwaju secretariat in Abuja, where he urged people in the region to support Tinubu’s re-election bid, citing infrastructure projects, appointments and other initiatives of the President’s administration.
The APC chairman listed road projects across northern states, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, irrigation dams, railway projects, healthcare initiatives and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund among the interventions he said should encourage the North to support Tinubu for a second term.
He said, “Today is a time for us to renew a mandate that was largely supported by the North, and the North, again, will largely support the return of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term.
“We have many reasons to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, so many reasons. Our son, our father, our leader, the Vice President, is one reason why we should support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“He has built an inclusive environment, bringing all of us together, ensuring that whether you are Christian, Muslim, or of a different faith, religion or tribe, he has brought us together under one shelter, always talking to us and engaging us.
“So, we have a reason to back him, to support him, and the two of them, the joint ticket of President Bola Tinubu and Shettima, should be returned for a second term.”
Yilwatda cited road projects across the North, including the Trans-Saharan Super Highway and routes linking Maiduguri, Biu, Gombe and Bauchi, which he said covered more than 1,000 kilometres.
He said, “We have the job that has been completed. The one from Abuja here, Abuja to Kaduna, Kaduna to Kano, over 441 kilometres, and from Kano to Maiduguri, over 500 kilometres. Those two roads alone are over 900 kilometres, more than the 700 kilometres of Lagos Road. Just two roads in the North.
“Apart from the one from Ilorin, Ilorin coming into Niger, Niger to Kebbi, Kebbi to Sokoto, Sokoto to Illela. Just over 700 kilometres. Just that bridge, that wing alone, apart from the one from here to Lokoja, Lokoja, you go down to Benin, the one from Kano heading to Taura, the one from Danja coming back to Zaria, the one from Plateau heading back to Taraba, you can keep on going on with the road network job in the North done by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I can’t mention all of them, but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done wonderfully. He has covered all the geopolitical zones in the North in terms of road projects.”
Yilwatda also cited railway and healthcare projects in the North, including the construction of health centres and free medical services for pregnant women, as reasons the region should support Tinubu’s re-election bid.
He said, “Having said that, I want to move that the entire Arewa, because everybody is here. All the former governors are here. All serving governors are here, except one. All the former senators are here. Most of them. Most of the former speakers, former Senate President, former Deputy Senate President, they are all here.
“If we win only in our respective hometowns and polling units, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will secure over 70 per cent of the votes in the North. So, we have no reason not to return Mr President.”
In his remarks, former Kebbi State Governor and Director-General of Arewa for Asiwaju, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, said Tinubu’s record in infrastructure, education, social investment and security justified a second term.
Abubakar said the A4A campaign would mobilise support for the Tinubu-Shettima ticket across the North, reaching communities at the ward, local government and state levels.
He said, “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, leadership is judged by what is delivered. And when we look at what this administration has delivered, the record speaks for itself.
“On infrastructure, roads, bridges, rail and power projects that had been talked about for decades are now taking shape, connecting our markets, our farmers and our communities to opportunity. On social investment, this administration has chosen to stand with the vulnerable, so that the ordinary Nigerian, the trader, the farmer and the young person starting out, feels the hand of government in their daily life.
“On education, the student loan initiative has opened the doors of the university to young people who would otherwise have been shut out by the cost of tuition, and no talented child of Arewa should ever again be denied a future because of a lack of money.
“And on security, the question that weighs most heavily on every home in the North, there has been a significant improvement. Our people are returning to their farms. Roads once feared are being travelled again. Communities that lived in dread are rebuilding in hope. Much work remains, and we will not pretend otherwise, but the direction is clear, and the progress is real. To our men and women in uniform, and to every security agency that has paid a price for this progress, we say thank you.”
Abubakar said Tinubu’s administration had taken difficult but necessary decisions for Nigeria’s future, adding that the group would continue to support the President’s re-election bid.
He said A4A would mobilise support for Tinubu across the North through governors, legislators, traditional institutions and youths.
Abubakar also described the group’s campaign headquarters as a three-block complex comprising three-storey buildings, with offices, a conference room and a situation room for monitoring and directing campaign activities.
He continued, “With the inauguration of this edifice, the work begins in earnest. From the national level to the states and the local governments, from the wards down to the polling units, the A4A family will mobilise, will listen and will explain.
“We will go to the markets, to the farms, to the campuses and to the mosques and churches. We will speak to the youth and the women. We will tell the story of what has been done, and we will listen to what remains to be done.”