Tinubu’s reelection: ACF, others tackle Ganduje over no-vacancy comment

Pro-North social-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, and some prominent voices from the northern region of the country have said the region cannot be forced to re-elect President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The  ACF and other northern leaders declared that no individual could claim to be the mouthpiece of the North and, as such, it was wrong for the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, to ask the North to wait till 2031 before vying for the Presidency.

They spoke against the backdrop of Ganduje’s warning to northern politicians nursing presidential ambition in 2027 to bury the idea, vowing that Tinubu would complete two terms in office.

Ganduje made the assertion on Tuesday when he received a delegation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre and Tinubu Northern Youth Forum at the party national Secretariat in Abuja.

According to him, it would be unfair to deny Tinubu the chance of being re-elected after a fellow northerner was allowed to finish his tenure of eight years.

The APC National Chairman pledged that the party would religiously follow the zoning process by ensuring that the North-South sharing formula is strictly adhered to.

Ganduje said, “When a leader from the northern part of this country was in office for eight years, we advocated that the next president in our party should come from the south. Luckily enough, we worked very hard with the cooperation of Nigerians.

“Our president has come from the south and is going, Insha Allah, for a second term come 2027. And after that, it will be the turn of the northern part of this country.”

But a former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, shared an opinion by one Uche Diala, a member of the APC, who warned that if care is not taken President Tinubu may be given the ‘Goodluck Jonathan treatment’ ahead of the next presidential election.

El-Rufai shared on verified X handle, the opinion titled, ‘2027: South West, Tinubu’s supporters playing with fire – Part 1.’

The post asserted that the relationship between Tinubu and the North had deteriorated less than two years into his administration.

El-Rufai has been attacking the ruling party and the policies of the Tinubu government, even as political gladiators across the party lines continued to mull the idea of floating a coalition capable of defeating the APC.

The Arewa Consultative Forum rejected Ganduje’s call, stressing that the North cannot afford to wait till 2031 for Presidency.

Speaking with our correspondent, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, asserted that Ganduje’s comment is a reflection of the cult-like nature of the presidency, where allegiance to the president is paramount.

“Given the nature of the Presidency, it has become something like a cult; a personality cult and allegiance to the president because it looks like the president wants total allegiance and nothing else.

“We are in the season of politics and you should expect that those who are near the corridors of power should express those things. But it’s not constitutional,” Muhammad-Baba said.

He emphasised that voters cannot be influenced by force, saying it is up to them to endorse, reject, or modify Ganduje’s opinion.

“There’s nothing new in what Ganduje said. So many people have said so before. Not too long ago, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume said the same thing that northerners should forget about it until 2031.

“He or she or party members cannot influence voters by force. So, what he said was an opinion and his personal opinion and it’s up to the voters to endorse, reject or modify what he said. I think voters are becoming wise as to where the president comes from. In 2015, we were sold a dummy of anti-corruption.

“We were sold a dummy of many things and people have realized that it wasn’t true. Then, of course, the Renewed Hope came in 2023 and the hope is turning into a nightmare. What will sell President Bola Tinubu, I think and I hope, is not whether he will contest or not, it will be his policies and their impact on the people. If they buy it, fine,” he noted.

A former APC National Vice Chairman (North-West), Mallam Salihu Lukman, threw his weight behind the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

He told The PUNCH that, “El-Rufai is not saying anything different from what I have been saying all these while. The only difference is that he is talking for the North while I talk for the whole country.”

Also, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has declared once again that he remains the right candidate for President in the 2027 general elections.

Reacting to Ganduje’s admonition for the North to wait till 2031 for Tinubu to finish his second term before aspiring for the Presidency, Mohammed, who spoke through his Commissioner for Natural Resources Development, Maiwada Bello, described Ganduje’s comment as silly.

Bello urged the youths to rally around Governor Mohammed, saying that he had set a national precedent by appointing more youths into key positions in government than any other governor in Nigeria.

The commissioner said the Bauchi governor’s bold move underscores his administration’s commitment to youth empowerment and inclusive governance, adding that he deserves the collective support of the Nigerian populace to propel him to the country’s highest political office in 2027.

 He said, “We are committed to building a government that reflects the energy and innovation of the youth.  No other administration in the country has given young people as many opportunities to serve in high-level positions as my administration.”

In an interview, a former ally-turned-foe of the President Tinubu, Babachir Lawal, affirmed that the North can never forgive Tinubu over the manner he allegedly brought suffering to the region through his nail-biting reforms.

The former SGF reiterated El-Rufai’s warning that the North is massively mobilising its people ahead of the 2027 polls.

He stated, “The North is seriously mobilising with a consensus that Bola Tinubu must give way in the 2027 election. This is no doubt about the consensus. There’s no argument about that. I may not have been supporting El-Rufai’s position. But on this one, I will join him to see how we can stop Bola Tinubu from winning the 2027 election. Because if he does win, you know there will be one large refugee camp.’

“So, there’s that consensus. Everybody understands that if we are to continue with these policies for another four years, northern Nigeria will become one large refugee camp. So, there’s a consensus that for self-preservation alone, we must look for another candidate.”

 Babachir said the state of origin of the candidate doesn’t matter, noting that the important thing is for the candidate to understand the need for one Nigeria.

He added, “Now, that is where quite a number of people think that it is only right to find someone who is patriotic and sees Nigeria as one, even if it’s from the South or the North. Some want it to come from the South while others are saying we cannot take the risk of bringing a southerner for self-preservation alone. So, that is where the divergence is.

“But we all agree that we must look for a substitute for Bola Tinubu. Unfortunately, quite a lot of people like Ganduje and other northerners benefiting directly from this government are just irritants. They are people who are talking to justify their positions in this rogue government. So they are justifying their place in it not caring what the other parts of northern Nigeria are going through.

“So, if we can get a good southerner that can rule with equity, we are okay. It’s not actually about the elite consensus. It’s about the masses and what they are saying at the bottom. Even if some elite pretend to be supporting Bola, they will not vote for him because they are the ones at the receiving end of this thing. They are also the ones directing us, political elites of northern origin, to make sure this man doesn’t have a second chance.”

Commenting on the development, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain and lawmaker representing Benue South Senatorial District, Abba Moro, also observed that what is playing out is an alignment of forces ahead of the electoral contest.

Moro also noted that El-Rufai and Ganduje’s remarks smacked of political alignment

He said, “There are several fireworks that are going on in the political firmament at the moment. These are attempts at alignment and realignment. Ambitions are on display and people are expressing sentiments in line with their ambitions.

 “My take is that with time, the picture will become clearer as to the direction of things takes shape. Nigerians will make up their minds as to where to go. Don’t forget that this present government is barely a year and a few months old.”

However, taking a different position on the matter, a former Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Anthony Sani, submitted that El-Rufai and Ganduje do not speak for the North.

He said, “There is nothing controversial about the statements of the two. This is because none of the two people you have mentioned speaks for the North in so far as partisan politics is concerned. This is because the North can be united politically on issues of real concern to northerners but when it comes to partisan politics, the North does not act in unison.”

He recalled that in the Second Republic, “Shehu Shagari contested against Nnamdi Azikiwe of the Nigeria People’s Party while Obafemi Awolowo of Unity Party of Nigeria from the South and with Mallam Aminu Kano of Peoples Redemption Party from Kano and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim of famous ‘politics without bitterness’ from the North joined forces together.

“During the third and the current Fourth Republics, the North voted for Moshood Abiola against their son, Bashir Tofa, and voted for Bola Tinubu in 2023 from the South against the son of the soil, Atiku Abubakar. This should also inform political pundits that the North can use contingency in its approach to politics depending on the situation on the ground,” he elaborated.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, Malam Falalu Bello, expressed disappointment that El-Rufai and Ganduje were playing ethnic or religious politics.

Bello said though the constitution of the country gives Tinubu the privilege of running for re-election, the PRP would field a sellable candidate in 2027.

He said, “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not allow for an eight-year term for the President of the Federal Republic but a four-year term which for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu comes to an end in 2027 at the end of which he must face the Nigerian electorate to seek for another mandate.

“The PRP had a candidate in the presidential elections of 2023 who came 8th out of the 19 presidential candidates and would, Insha Allah, field its presidential candidate in the 2027 election to face President Tinubu or whoever APC decides as its candidate and our choice will be any Nigerian to bring good governance to Nigerians.”

The Immediate past Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Benue State, Chief Bemgba Iortyom, warned El-Rufai to stop heating the polity with his posturing as the mouthpiece of the north.

The PDP chieftain said playing the south against the North in the name of promoting the interest of the region is an ill wind that will bring no good.

 He said, “So I asked again, who are the northerners? Are they Almajiris who are the real face of poverty or El-Rufai, whose children are part of the bourgeois? I think one of his sons is in the House of Reps, right? You have his children in the upper echelons of life. He wants you to understand that he and his children and those Talakawa and the downtrodden are all North.

“He should basically be trying to pacify certain areas where he has caused so much strife within the polity of that state. El-Rufai had placed himself in a larger perspective in the eyes of Nigerians as an ethnic and religious extremist. He’s not the sort of person that should be talking about the north and the south dichotomy. As far as I’m concerned, he’s only leading a crusade in the wrong direction.”

The National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, described the claim that Tinubu brought poverty to the North as laughable.

He said, “First and foremost, El-Rufai and others cannot speak for the North. Lukman, on the other hand, is a hireling of El-Rufai. So, whatever he says is from the same person and the way they going about it is laughable. I don’t know when El-Rufai turned himself to the mouthpiece of the north.

“He should, first of all, go and make peace with the Kaduna chapter of the APC before talking about national leadership. Then two, this idea of trying to represent the North is for his personal and egoistic interest because when you look at the structure of government we have in place now, you cannot be saying anybody is anti-north.

“The Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, the national chairman of the party, the Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, deputy senate president, and key other ones from the North. So, we don’t know what they meant meant. This is not even a military government. It’s a democratic one.

“The structure and setup of the Nigerian Constitution does not even facilitate or allow marginalisation of any part of the country. There’s no northern state that does not have members in the Federal Executive Council. So, where did El-Rufai and others come up with their theory of Tinubu being anti-North? Even as we speak, the North now North-West, North-East and North Central Development Commissions. All of them have been activated?”

The APC scribe emphasised that El-Rufai was free to exit the APC if he so wished without levelling any false claim.

Basiru also advised that the former governor should have been engaging in penance over the manner he managed Kaduna State amid the turbulence, killings and rife state of insecurity that rocked the state under his watch.

 “We all know he is working together with Atiku. He should not divert from the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President. He has also been going about alleging that they want to arrest him and put him in a dungeon. Who does that in a democratic society? The president is a detribalised Nigeria.

“That was why the Federal Government also gave out N150bn support to Kaduna State. But El-Rufai turned around and claimed it was a bribe to Governor Uba Sani. We are talking about funds that will benefit farmers and the agricultural structure in the state. Rather than commending the federal government and seeing it as charitable, he is labelling it as a bribe to his governor.’’