Vice-President Kashim Shettima has urged northern leaders and citizens to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, saying the region has nothing to fear from another term under the current administration.
Mr Shettima said a second term for Mr Tinubu would provide a “secure, bulletproof guarantee for the region’s future prosperity and stability”.
The vice-president spoke when he received a delegation of Arewa for Asiwaju, A4A, a northern-based group working for Mr Tinubu’s re-election, on a courtesy visit.
He urged leaders across the region to unite behind the president and prioritise the development of the North and the welfare of its people.
According to him, the region has benefited from appointments, projects and programmes under the Tinubu administration and stands to gain more if the president is re-elected.
“Let’s unite as a people and work for the development of our region and the progress of our people through the re-election of this administration. We are benefiting and we stand to benefit more from this government in many ways,” he said.
Mr Shettima cited the Bank of Agriculture’s disbursement of N450 billion to 700,000 smallholder farmers nationwide, claiming that about 70 per cent of the beneficiaries were from northern Nigeria.
He also said the administration was working to complete major projects across the country.
“I can assure you that the president loves the North and the president will work for the North,” he said.
The vice-president thanked the group for its support for Mr Tinubu and urged its members to intensify mobilisation at the ward, community and local government levels to secure the president’s re-election.
Speaking on behalf of the group, its Director-General and former Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru, said the organisation would continue its mobilisation efforts until Mr Tinubu was re-elected.
Mr Badaru said the group planned to engage religious leaders, including Muslim and Christian clerics, as well as other prominent Nigerians, to persuade them to support the Tinubu-Shettima ticket in 2027.
“On discussions with the high profile, we have gone far. We have met them severally and the BoT is meeting them again to consolidate our gains and to tell them why there is need to support this ticket,” he said.
He added that the organisation was also supporting the Presidential Campaign Council with grassroots mobilisation, focusing on local government areas and wards.
“We are also supporting the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, with whatever they want us to do that is micro in nature because they are so big and we really don’t want to lose sight of the bigger arrangement that is there.
“We want to focus very well on the contacts at the grassroots — the local government areas and the wards,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the group’s Board of Trustees and former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, said the organisation, which supported Mr Tinubu’s election in 2023, was determined to replicate the effort in 2027.
Mr Shekarau said the group had been engaging northern governors and other stakeholders to identify areas of collaboration towards achieving the president’s re-election.
He disclosed that the organisation had concluded plans to establish a full-fledged secretariat to coordinate its activities.
According to him, the proposed secretariat would house directors and enable state coordinators to submit reports, analyse developments and issue directives to members.
Mr Shekarau also invited the vice-president to formally commission the organisation’s office complex.