2027: Tinubu deserves Northern support for re-election, says Yilwatda

Aiyedatiwa says President can win 36 states

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC),Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said President Bola Tinubu deserves the support of Northern Nigeria to secure a second term in 2027.

This was as Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State disclosed that Tinubu possessed the political capacity to become the first Nigerian presidential candidate to win in all 36 states of the federation.

Yilwatda maintained that Tinubu’s support for the late Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year Presidency was sufficient justification for the North to reciprocate, citing the spirit of equity.

The APC chairman spoke when he led members of the ruling party to visit former governor Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, at his Kano residence.

Yilwatda explained: “Nigeria, and especially the North, is at a defining moment that will affect our future as a region. We have agreed that the South should complete two terms in office. President Tinubu is about to complete his first term, and we must support him to secure a second term,” Yilwatda said.

He further stated that his visit to Kano was part of efforts to realign the APC with like-minded individuals, appealing to Shekarau to consider returning to the ruling party in the interest of unity and prosperity in Northern Nigeria.

Yilwatda asserted that Shekarau remains one of the critical figures in Kano politics and reminded him that Tinubu would require strong support to secure Kano’s votes in the 2027 election.

ON APC’s landslide win next year, Aiyedatiwa said the President’s performance in office in the last three years eliminated any viable political alternative.

The Ondo governor stated this while receiving the national leadership of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA)at the Government House, Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State capital.

The governor, who emphasised that Tinubu inherited a country on the verge of systemic collapse, argued that the progress made under the present administration would simplify the mobilisation efforts of support groups like SWAGA.

While welcoming the launch of SWAGA 2.0 in the state as a timely initiative, Aiyedatiwa stressed that machinery had been put in place to ensure that Tinubu receives one million votes in the state.

He said, “So the work will be easier now for SWAGA, especially with all that we have seen in the political space in Nigeria. The whole nation has seen the quality of the President we have, and we have seen that there is no alternative now. That is why everyone has decided to join the President’s party. So he is the leader of our party.

“I have won an entire 18 local councils in Ondo, so it’s not impossible that the President will also win that. We work for it. We pray towards that. And the Lord will keep him and grant him strength. For me, SWAGA is not new to me.”

While leading the SWAGA team, the National Chairman, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), stated that the country was living on borrowed time under the previous administration.

Adeyeye added that even former President Muhammadu Buhari had declared he could not continue subsidy payments, stating that the Dangote refinery would not function under a rigidly regulated system and that most businesses would have collapsed without the president’s reforms.