Former Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, has said President Bola Tinubu deserves a second term in office because of projects executed by his administration and what he described as improvements in security.
Pakistan, who is also the leader of the Izala group in Kano State, stated this in an interview with DCL Hausa, saying the federal government had executed projects worth over N9 trillion in Kano State.
He said many residents were unaware that the projects they could see around them were being executed by the federal government.
The cleric said the Kano State Governor had during their meeting told them that several projects were being carried out in the state by the federal government, saying that many people don’t know that they were federal government interventions.
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He cited the provision of solar power systems to Northwest University, Kano, which he said cost N6 billion, despite the institution being owned by the state government.
He also said the federal government provided a solar power system for Radio Kano at a cost of N2 billion.
Pakistan said he would continue to promote Tinubu’s administration because he believed the president had demonstrated the capacity to govern and deserved another term to complete the projects he had started.
He cited the Kaduna-Abuja highway, saying travellers had faced serious security challenges in the past but that the situation had improved under Tinubu.
The cleric also defended his position on insecurity after a video circulated in which he was alleged to have said kidnapping was not a problem in northern Nigeria.
He said the video had been edited, explaining that his argument was that former President Muhammadu Buhari inherited the Boko Haram insurgency, while there was no banditry Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara at the time.
According to him, Tinubu also inherited the kidnapping crisis and remnants of Boko Haram from the Buhari administration.
He added that kidnapping became a major problem in Zamfara during Buhari’s tenure, when a former defence minister was also from the state.
Pakistan said he believed insecurity had reduced significantly under Tinubu, particularly in the North-East, where he claimed reports of mass killings had become less frequent.
On the 2027 presidential election, he said former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had yet to convince him that he had a better plan than Tinubu for addressing insecurity.
He said he had not seen a convincing explanation from Atiku on how he intended to tackle the problem.
Pakistan also denied reports that he had threatened Nigeria may fall into violence if Tinubu was not re-elected, saying he had only argued that Tinubu before he became President had made sure that North should be allowed to complete its eight-year presidential tenure under Buhari before power returned to the South.
He said Tinubu had supported Buhari’s bid for a second term despite opposition to the former president’s re-election over concerns about his health and other issues.
According to him, Tinubu’s support for Buhari demonstrated his willingness to stand by the North, adding that the region should acknowledge the role he played.
He recalled that Tinubu had offered Atiku an opportunity to contest under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) denied him its presidential ticket.
Pakistan also said he had previously supported the candidacy of Nuhu Ribadu, a northern Muslim, with a southerner as his running mate.
He said his support for Tinubu was also informed by his assessment of the president’s record in Lagos, where he claimed projects continued despite delays in the release of funds to the state, alongside the payment of salaries.
The cleric, however, said he would not use his religious position to advance his political interests.
He said he kept his religious responsibilities separate from politics and did not use the pulpit to persuade his followers to adopt his political views.
He added that he did not force his children to share his political choices, stressing that every Nigerian had the right to hold and express an independent political opinion.
Pakistan urged Islamic scholars to avoid harsh language when discussing political disagreements, saying people should respect one another’s political choices.
He said even though his name was included in a campaign committee for Tinubu and Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, said that his participation would not conflict with his religious teachings.
The cleric disclosed that he and about nine other people met Tinubu about two weeks ago for roughly two hours, during which they presented issues affecting the North and requested that the president address them if re-elected.
According to him, Tinubu indicated that he was not desperate for power, money or recognition and would be willing to return to private life if Nigerians no longer wanted him in office.
Pakistan said he and other supporters had also recently met the Kano State governor and were surprised by the projects presented to them.
He maintained that he would not stop promoting Tinubu despite what he described as allegations against him.
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