By Jeremiah Bako
It’s about two years until the 2027 general election but the political machinations of who gets what has already been set in motion. Across the country, politicians and political parties are busy scheming, aligning and planning how to win at the polls.
Hence, it didn’t come as a surprise when a recent meeting of northwest leaders not only moved a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu’s leadership but vowed to sport him in the 2027 election.
Speaking on behalf of the northwest leaders, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass, said they are supporting President Bola Tinubu for a second term in office. To clarify the northwest’s support for Tinubu, Kaduna State governor, Senator Uba Sani, was on Channels Television the next day after the meeting.
“I’m the coordinating governor of the northwest zone for the APC (All Progressives Congress), meaning it’s my responsibility to bring the entire APC stakeholders together,” said Sani.
“Yesterday’s meeting was the second meeting and we looked critically and realised from last year when we had the first meeting to yesterday, there were a lot of development that happened in northwest zone because of the intervention and support of Mr. President to our very important zone.”
Harping on the federal government’s positive impact on security, agriculture and infrastructure in the northwest, Sani praised policies of the Tinubu administration extending support.
“When we came in 2023, there were four local governments that you cannot go freely because of the problem of banditry, insurgency and kidnappings,” the governor said.
“These local governments I’m mentioning are Igabi, Birnin-Gwari, Giwa, Kachia and some parts of Kauru local government. But today, if you are someone who comes to Kaduna regularly, you would agree with me that you can go to Birnin-Gwari without any escort.”
Recalling when President Tinubu campaigned in Birnin-Gwari in December 2022, Sani said the GOC One Mechanised Division, late General Lagbaja, “provided more than 50 armed vehicles with hundreds of military personnel along the axis of Kaduna to Birnin-Gwari,” an expressway of “not more than 122 kilometres.”
Presently, there is no fear about travelling that same stretch of road and the dread of Birnin-Gwari is a thing of the past. The governor continued on how normalcy has been restored there.
“In the last six months, some of the cattle markets and grain markets which were closed for about seven years, we’ve reopened them. And this is just one local government – Birnin-Gwari. And the same story is also happening in Igabi, Giwa, Kachi as well Kauru local governments. This is Kaduna. So, we appreciate most of these efforts by President Bola Ahemed Tinubu in addressing the security challenges in the northwest.”
While Sani admitted that all is not well yet, the fact is that Kaduna and much of the northwest are much safer now than it was in 2023. This improved security can be traced to the implementation of the ‘Kaduna Model’ security architecture across the region. The model which was initiated by Sani involves the collaboration of residents with various federal security organs including the DSS, Military, Police, Civil Defence, Immigration, Customs, NIMC and stakeholders like the youth, traditional and religious leaders in the community.
In the interview, Sani also attributed efforts aimed at reducing prices of food and infrastructure provision as reasons why the northwest is queuing behind Tinubu in 2027.
“Last year precisely, you know the prices of these (agricultural) commodities in the market. I’m not saying the prices have really stabilised. But we’re seeing some results.. The prices of rice, maize, millet and many other commodities are coming down gradually in the markets.
“Another major intervention by Mr President is infrastructural development in the northwestern part of Nigeria. For me, as someone who is the governor of Kaduna State, when I was in the Senate, for four years, I was battling to ensure that Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road is completed. But unfortunately, we did not succeed. The contractor abandoned the job because of insecurity. Today, you can travel from Abuja to Kaduna with your eyes closed. This is an achievement.”
Sani also said the northwest region has benefited from the federal government other social interventions like support for small and nano businesses
“And I can tell you here in Kaduna, we’ve benefited a lot. That has really revitalised the economies of people that have small businesses. That, for me, has gone a long way in addressing the rate of poverty and creating jobs.”
Reacting on whether the decision to support Tinubu was solely that of the political elites, Sani replied:”We cannot say that everybody in northwest would certainly agree with us. But in democracy, majority is what matters. And I can tell you majority of the people of northwest would agree with me. We know how we started in 2023. And that is the reason we sat down collectively, we agreed that it is time for us now to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because of what he has done to the northwestern part of Nigeria.”
While appreciating that the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and 12 ministers were picked from the northwest, Sani revealed that the decision to support Tinubu arose from the need to consolidate on the gains of the region.
“We need to come together because that’s what we lost in the last government,” said the Kaduna governor.
“The Speaker, ministers, government appointees, House of Reps members and Senators were there, so that we can continue to advance some of the areas we believe we need quick intervention support from the federal government.”
Sani, who was Senate Committee Chairman on Banking prior to becoming governor, also spoke on how the poverty index in the northwest has been alleviated since 2023.
“Today, I can tell you things are getting better. But nobody can tell us we can address these problems even in the next 10 years because I am a very realistic person. This problem of insecurity is largely an economic issue because of poverty, unemployment. That was the reason why our people can easily be recruited by these bandits.”
While Sani disclosed that the northwest region, particularly the rural areas are in poverty, it still needs a lot of support in areas such as education, healthcare and others. As it is, the region seems to have learnt from the loss of not uniting during the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buahri, who is even from Katsina, and are now set to consolidate on the region’s gains under the Tinubu administration.
“We did not only talk about politics,” said the governor.
“We also talked about developmental areas, how we can be able to carry our people along.”
While the governor said the problems besieging the northwest started “many years ago”, it is wise that the northwest comprising seven states – Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara – the most of any region, is channeling a means to addressing them.
And Sani’s role in coordinating the major stakeholders speaking and uniting to address the challenges confronting them with one voice is commendable. This worthy template, if applied in other regions, can only make each region more efficiently governed.