Follow Us on Google
•North is 101% for Tinubu –Yari
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Kaduna
President Bola Tinubu has blamed opposition parties for the hunger and poverty confronting Nigerians, insisting that his administration is working to reverse the problems he said they created.
Tinubu, who spoke yesterday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna, dismissed opposition criticism of the country’s economic challenges and urged voters to renew his mandate in the Presidential Election, to be held on January 16, 2027.
The President, who thanked the people of Kaduna State for supporting him in the last presidential election, said he had returned to seek their votes for a second term, promising continuity, prosperity and progress.
“I hear my opponents talking about hunger and poverty. Who created it? They did. They created the hunger, they created the poverty. We are trying to eradicate it,” he said.
Tinubu also described his political opponents as failures, accusing them of having nothing to offer Nigerians beyond what he called empty claims.
“Our opponents are angry because they are failures. They have nothing to offer you but a mere claim. We have prosperity, consistency, growth, recovery and opportunity,” the President said.
He urged Nigerians to look beyond the hardship being experienced and support his administration’s economic and development agenda, assuring them that they would not regret voting for him again.
The President also cited regular payment of salaries by the Federal Government and state governments as evidence of progress, commending governors elected on the APC platform for what he described as their development strides.
“I am proud of them. They are developing,” he said, adding that the governors were paying salaries regularly.
Seeking support for the APC across all levels of government, Tinubu urged voters to mobilise for the party’s candidates in the presidential, governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and state assembly elections.
He called on eligible voters to ensure they have their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), stressing that their votes would determine the country’s political direction.
“Your prosperity is here. Your future is in your hands,” he told the crowd.
Tinubu also reiterated that the era of fuel subsidy was over, while promising to tackle corruption, falsification of invoices and the smuggling of wealth
He thanked party leaders, governors and young Nigerians for their support, promising a better future for the country’s youth.
The Kaduna rally formed part of the APC’s campaign activities ahead of the 2027 general election, as Tinubu seeks a second term in office.
Also speaking, Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari, declared that northern Nigeria is “101 per cent” behind President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, expressing confidence that the ruling party will defeat its opponents in the presidential election.
Yari said the APC would base its campaign on the Tinubu administration’s record in infrastructure, the economy, healthcare, education and human capital development, rather than what he described as false information circulated by opposition parties using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“Mr President, I want you to listen to us carefully. Northern Nigeria is 101 per cent, by God’s grace, for you, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Yari declared.
He said the ruling party deliberately chose Kaduna, which he described as the political centre of northern Nigeria, for the campaign flag-off to demonstrate its commitment to securing support across the region.
Yari said APC governors and other party stakeholders had arrived in Kaduna ahead of the rally to ensure its success, adding that the party had also engaged traditional rulers, Islamic clerics and other influential figures to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election.
He said the party was confident of victory, insisting that its campaign would be anchored on what the administration had achieved since assuming office in May 2023.
“We are going to campaign with our records. Our records are there. Infrastructure is there. What you did in health is there. Education is there. Human capital development, students, transportation and cash transfers are also there,” he said.
Yari defended the administration’s economic policies, citing improvements in foreign reserves and government revenue as evidence of progress.
He claimed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves had risen from $3.9 billion when the administration took office to between $54 billion and $57.7 billion, although he did not specify the reference period or the precise reserve measure.
He also claimed that government revenue had increased from ₦44 billion in 2023 to ₦7.5 trillion, without clarifying the revenue category or the periods being compared.
On the exchange rate, Yari cited a movement from about ₦1,800 to the dollar to approximately ₦1,300, describing it as a remarkable achievement of the Tinubu administration.
The APC campaign chief argued that the figures, alongside the administration’s infrastructure and social interventions, would provide the ruling party with sufficient material to campaign ahead of the election.
Turning to the opposition, Yari accused rival parties of relying on AI-generated information and false claims to discredit the President.
“They are lying through AI. They are still lying on AI, and that is where they are going to end up,” he said.
He also rejected claims that the Tinubu administration was hostile to farmers, insisting that the government had introduced measures to support the agricultural sector.
Yari claimed that about two million farmers had committed to voting for Tinubu in 2027, although he did not provide details of how the figure was compiled.
He urged the President to sustain his engagement with Nigerians, saying APC leaders had been mobilising support through governors and other political structures across the country.
The former governor also invoked the APC’s political history, recalling its evolution through different political platforms before emerging as the ruling party.
He said the party’s experience in successive elections gave it confidence in its organisational capacity to secure Tinubu’s re-election.
Yari expressed optimism that the APC would defeat the opposition on January 16, 2027, insisting that the party’s campaign would focus on the administration’s record and its promises to Nigerians.
