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• Says reversing subsidy removal would threaten roads, gas projects, student loans
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has warned northern voters against supporting opposition presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), arguing that reversing key policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration could worsen poverty in the region.
Yilwatda spoke yesterday at the APC national secretariat in Abuja while receiving former ADC candidates and members who defected to the ruling party.
Atiku and Obi are among the presidential candidates on the final list published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the January 16, 2027 election, while Yilwatda is the APC national chairman.
Yilwatda accused the opposition, particularly the ADC, of attempting to persuade northern voters that Tinubu’s administration had neglected the region, a claim he rejected by citing ongoing federal road projects and other interventions.
“The opposition, especially the ADC, has been painting stories of what does not exist. For example, they will tell you on Hausa radio programmes that Mr President doesn’t like the northern part of Nigeria. Let’s ask: where are the northern Nigerians? Where are you? We are part of the North.”
He cited the Abuja-Kano and Kano-Maiduguri highways among projects he said demonstrated the administration’s commitment to the region.
“The road from Abuja to Kano is 400 kilometres. The road from Kano to Maiduguri is 500 kilometres. Two of them alone are 900, almost 1,000 kilometres. “The one from Abuja to Kano is nearly completed. The one from Maiduguri to Kano is almost 50 per cent near completion. Those two roads alone are over 900, almost 1,000 kilometres.”
Yilwatda also listed road projects linking Abuja to Lokoja and Benue, Akwanga to Jos, Kwara to Mokwa, Sokoto to Kebbi, Kano to Daura and Zaria to Danja, arguing that claims that the North had been left out of federal infrastructure spending were misleading.
“So, the roads that we are seeing, where more will be constructed, nobody should deceive us. They have reached their dead end and will do anything possible to deceive vulnerable Nigerians and gullible people.”
Yilwatda also criticised opposition promises to restore petrol subsidy, contending that doing so would reduce funds available for infrastructure and other government programmes.
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“The same thing they keep saying on radio is that they will return subsidy. I keep asking, how are they going to return the subsidy? You mean they will stop all this road construction because they want to return subsidy? Because there will be no money for all these roads again.”
He argued that gas projects, fertiliser supply, Compressed Natural Gas initiatives and the student loan scheme were particularly important to northern residents.
“The gas they are bringing to the North will go with fertiliser, and we in the North need that fertiliser like yesterday to farm. You mean they should stop it?
“The CNG will come with the gas. It will make transportation easier for vulnerable people. We should stop it?
“The beneficiaries of the student loan, most of them are from the North. We have more of them in this part of the country. We should stop it? And most of our people who cannot afford school fees should go back as wheelbarrow pushers in the villages? The questions are too many.”
Yilwatda further argued that improved fiscal transfers to states had helped governments meet salary and gratuity obligations, which he linked to poverty reduction in the North.
“I can also assure you that among the about 30 states that could not pay salaries in Nigeria, all the states in the North, none could pay salaries as of 2023 when President Tinubu took over.
“Should we say our states should now go back again to the era when they could not pay salaries or gratuities and increase poverty again in the North? “These were some of the factors that were making poverty prevalent in the North and other parts of Nigeria also.”
Yilwatda urged the defectors to support Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, saying the APC would continue to mobilise voters around what he described as the administration’s achievements.
“I am happy that you are here, and I am happy that all of us are here to support Mr President. We will support him. You are here to support Mr President come 2027,” he said.
