Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said claims that Northern Nigeria will not support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 are misguided.
Ganduje, a former governor of Kano State, described President Tinubu as the most qualified candidate to lead the country beyond 2027, insisting that the South has produced a leader with unmatched political experience.
He spoke on Friday in Abuja when a delegation of Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders from the 19 northern states paid him a courtesy visit and decorated him as patron of their forum.
According to Ganduje, Nigeria is fortunate to have a president with deep political roots and a long-standing commitment to national unity.
He said: “Pertaining to the next election in 2027, those that are nursing or thinking otherwise that the North will vote another candidate other than Asiwaju are making a big mistake.
“This is the first time Nigeria as a nation is luck to have a politician as President. His constituency is politics, his upbringing is politics because he believes in the unity of this country. In fact, he struggled, he was even in exile for democracy to survive in Nigeria.
“So there is no better person to be elected in 2027 than Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Ganduje also disclosed that a power-sharing understanding existed before the election of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, which provided that power would return to the South after eight years.
He noted that President Tinubu has been in office for less than four years but has already initiated major reforms aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
“Asiwaju has only being there for less than four years now and we have seen the measures the reforms that he undertook. The reforms that he introduced in order to improve the social economic development of this country.”
Highlighting some of the administration’s key policy decisions, Ganduje pointed to the removal of fuel subsidy as a bold step previous governments avoided.
He said: “All the candidates who contested with him in 2023 promised to remove fuel subsidy, even the previous government promised to remove the subsidy but nobody was bold enough to do that job but Asiwaju has succeeded in removing the subsidy and now all the state Governors, irrespective of their political leaning, they believe they are getting more and more funds for the development of their respective states. He did not say that he removed subsidy because he wanted to improve the APC governors, but he did it for the nation. So, this President has undertaken measures that will improve the economy of this country.”
Ganduje assured the youth leaders of his continued support and praised their efforts to mobilise support and raise funds for President Tinubu’s re-election.
“There’s no better commitment than this, you are contributing funds, you are also contributing your brain, you are contributing your energy and you are contributing your time to ensure the re-election of Asiwaju, I have to thank you for this.”
Earlier, the National Leader of the forum, Murtala Muhammad Gamji, described Ganduje as a role model and credited him for supporting youth leadership during his tenure as governor.
“We are here to tell you that wherever you focus that’s where we go with you. We have all agreed to support the re-election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by massively mobilizing all the youths in the 19 Northern states and to raise fund to by his nomination form ahead of the election.
“We have to do this because some people are insinuating that the North will not vote for Asiwaju in 2027, but that’s a lie because nobody has supported us in the North like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Gamji declared.
The forum used the occasion to formally decorate Ganduje as the Grand Patron of the Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders Forum.
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