From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, has said with the gale of defections into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and endorsement by party stalwarts in the North West, it is clear that President Bola Tinubu and APC would have a landslide victory in 2027.
Barau, who spoke at the APC North West stakeholders’ meeting in Kaduna, therefore, called for unity among party members to ensure the success of President Tinubu.
He said the defection of stalwarts of the opposition political parties to the APC was as a result of the performance of President Tinubu in addressing the challenges bedevilling the country.
“This is not happening just for nothing. There are reasons for this. What are the reasons? Number one is the performance of our president. The president, of course, inherited a lot of challenges, bedevilling our country. But, he has come up with programmes and policies to surmount these challenges.
“Security challenges, economic challenges, name them. We’ve seen how he has dealt with our problem, our security problem, the security we’ve been facing in the North West. Several areas were not accessible before now. You could not go to some areas before now. But now you can go to some places and you can travel from Abuja to Kaduna. This was quite impossible before he came to power.
“Similarly, before this administration, you could not go to Birnin Gwari, but life has returned to the area. The people have returned to their farmlands
“Several areas that were not accessible before are now accessible. We know we are not yet where we want to be. But it’s a work in progress. Mr. President is working hard, day in and day out, to surmount the country’s insecurity problem, particularly in the North West. It is a work in progress. It is easy to have problems, but it’s not easy to solve them.
“And of course, that is not alone. That is not the only reason we are having these influxes to our party. The performance of our governors is another factor. Our governors are doing well, working day in day out.
“The National Chairman of our party, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is leading all the party leaders in the country to bring about these improvements we are witnessing in the APC. We are all here as brothers and sisters.
“So let us continue to cooperate among ourselves, work among ourselves and do all that is humanly possible to bring about the needed development to our people, so that our party can grow stronger and stronger.
“So that by 2027, we will not have any problem in making sure that we have the expected victory that we are beginning to see because as we speak, it looks as if you don’t have any other political party in the country, or even in the North West. So, it is always said,” he stated.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State said the North West zone is faring better under the President Tinubu administration and that the zone is the heartbeat of the APC.
The governor recalled that President Tinubu took control of the nation’s affairs at one of the most difficult times in its history.
Governor Sani who is the Coordinating Governor of APC in the North West, said the President is not afraid to take tough decisions as he “embarked on bold reforms with uncommon courage.”
According to him, the President’s choices have started bearing fruits because “Nigerians are also beginning to appreciate the fact that Mr. President means well for our country.
“As things begin to pick up, the APC has become the choice destination for politicians and citizens generally,’’ Gov Sani noted.
The Governor recalled that “before President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, the North West zone was the epicentre of banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other violent crimes.
“You could hardly travel from one place to another. Farmers could hardly access their farmers. Life was, indeed, nasty, short and brutish in the North West. At one point, the situation appeared hopeless but after two years in the saddle, the situation has changed.
“President Tinubu has not only stabilised the security situation, he has also boosted agriculture in the North West with the provision of farm inputs.”
He pointed out that the “North West has also gotten top positions at the federal level. For the first time, the North West zone has 12 ministers in the federal cabinet.
“We have the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Senate President, the National Chairman of the APC, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Air Staff. There are many other important appointments, which I may not be able to mention here because of time.”
The Governor listed some projects that the Tinubu administration is embarking on in the North West, especially the completion of the Abuja – Kaduna – Zaria – Kano dual carriageway.
He also mentioned the Ilella-Badagry Road project, the Kaduna and Kano Rail projects, the construction of Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Road and the construction of Jere to Kafanchan Road.
He also listed the provision of N95 billion for the rehabilitation of three dams in Kano, the creation of the strategic Ministry of Livestock Development and the “creation of the North West Development Commission and the allocation of the highest budget to it among the regional development commissions.’’
The governor credited the Tinubu administration with the “creation of the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna State and the conversion of Patrick Yakowa General Hospital, Kafanchan, to a Federal Medical Centre.’’
He reiterated that “We have in Mr. President a true father and friend. Let us, therefore, consolidate on our gains by mobilising our people to support Mr. President for a second term in office.”
Governor Sani further said: “Mr. President is on a mission to reinvent our economy, banish hunger and poverty and return Nigeria to its rightful place in the comity of nations.”