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2027: Plot Against President Tinubu Gathers Momentum

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The 2027 general election, though still three years away, is already shaping up to be a nail biting showdown for the soul of Africa’s most populous country, as the north, shaken by the unrelenting usurpation of its hitherto dominant position in the country’s polity by the President Bola Tinubu led South West, has begun to restrategize for battle. But the region presents its weakest front since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, against Tinubu, who has thus far, proved his mettle in exploiting weaknesses to his ultimate advantage, Thecitypulsenews learnt.

Over the course of the past few weeks, leading northern political figures, such as Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari; former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, former Kano governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, among others, who were hitherto in different political platforms, have held strategic meetings in, what Business Hallmark gathered, are part of an ongoing political realignment in the region ahead of 2027.

On June 22, Atiku, accompanied by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders, visited Buhari at his home in Daura, Katsina State, to, as he put it, “pay a courtesy call and offer Sallah homage.”

The former vice president had noted in a post on X after the visit that, “My trip to Katsina today also afforded me the opportunity to pay my condolences to the family of my late friend and associate, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, over the loss of the matriarch of the family, Hajiya Yalwa Kaita, where I was received by the Governor of Katsina, Dikko Umar Radda. I also paid courtesy visits to the Emir of Katsina, HRH Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, and the Emir of Daura, HRH Alhaji Farouk Umar Farouk.”

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Earlier on June 19, Atiku also visited former Heads of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) and Gen. Abdusalami at their residences in Minna, Niger State.

Atiku was beaten to second place by Tinubu in the contentious 2023 presidential election. Buhari, then outgoing president, had backed Tinubu, his party’s candidate, despite initially favouring a northern successor, but was literally bullied by northern governors, who insisted on power shift to the south, fearing possible collapse of the ruling APC. But with Tinubu apparently determined to consolidate power at the centre to the detriment of the north, the former president appears willing to close ranks with other stakeholders in the region.

El-Rufai, another prominent APC figure, who had been a staunch supporter of Tinubu in the lead up to the election last year, but evidently feel betrayed after being left in the cold by the president, has been making moves of his own preparatory to 2027. On June 27, he received Kwankwaso, leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, who relying on massive Kano support, came fourth in the 2023 presidential election, at his home in Abuja, all of which builds up to a definite political realignment to challenge Tinubu in 2027.

“There is evidence of rallying of forces, regrouping of political forces from the North trying to use former President Buhari as a rally point in order to evict the government of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu,” noted Shehu Sani, former Kaduna Central Senator in an interview on Arise TV last week.

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Sani, who cautioned against the move in the interest of national cohesion, noted that the politicians, “hope to resurrect the political charms in the hearts of the masses and portray the government as the one that has been undermining the North and the one that has not been living up to his campaign promises.”

The harsh economic realities the country has faced since Tinubu assumed office last year after he haphazardly removed fuel subsidy and floated the naira, has created mass discontent among the populace, as hunger takes its toll, more prevalently in the north, a region also gripped by insecurity manifested by terrorism, banditry and kidnapping right across the region.

Across social media, a number of northern influencers have begun to describe the former Lagos State governor as an OTP, an acronym for One Term President, an affirmation of their believe that Tinubu will be voted out in 2027. In the wake of the controversies over the Samoa agreement which has been alleged – but denied by the government – to have provisions for allowing same sex unions has also worsened Tinubu’s reputation in the north, with some clerics vowing to ensure the president does not return for second term. But it’s easier said than done.

Tinubu, who lost his home state of Lagos to Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, had relied on the north – and some would insist, the manipulation of the electoral process by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – to win overall majority and become president. He will still need northern votes in 2027, and some analysts have wondered how he hopes go about it given that the north now appears unwilling to support him.

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Indeed, given the mass discontent among Nigerians towards the Tinubu presidency, a carry-over from the anger of the younger generation, who felt let down by the conduct of the last election, but now compounded by rising inflation, job losses, poor economic outcomes and the general hunger and insecurity in the land, many observers have tended to support the idea that Tinubu will likely be a one term president.

But Tinubu started making his moves from his first day in office. And despite the widespread misgivings against his government, it may still be a tall order to unseat him, even with the north’s best efforts. Tinubu has within the first year of his administration, managed to consolidate hold on the South West, the zone, which for the first time, now feels the aura of being in power.

Although, Olusegun Obasanjo, who took office as president in 1999, came from the South West, he ascended power on a pan Nigerian mandate, and thus never saw a need to run a ‘Yoruba government.’ The coming of Tinubu and his political structure, therefore, is the first time the South West will be taking power at the centre on its own strength. And from all indications, Tinubu intends to enthrone the zone as a dominant political player in the country for good, at the expense of the northern political establishment, which had held the centre stage for long.

Presently, all the core security and economic structures of the country, ranging from headship of Customs, Immigration, Army, EFCC, FCT lamong others, which used to be the exclusive preserve of the north, have been taken over by the the South West.

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This contest for control of the country, keen observers have noted, is what will form the undercurrent of the 2027 political battle. President Tinubu, apparently with this in mind, has continued to deepen and consolidate South West’s roots in the mainstream of Nigerian politics.

It is, therefore, not entirely strange that some of the political voices in the region like PDP’s Chief Olabode George, Doyin Okupe, among others, who had hitherto worked against his presidential ambition, have all made u-turns. Indeed, even Obasanjo, a who openly endorsed Peter Obi in the last election, appears to have suddenly developed soft spot for the president. He was recently seen wearing Tinubu’s signature cap at an event in Lagos, and he subsequently paid courtesy visit to Oluremi, the president’s wife, a move some insiders informed our correspondent, is part of political realignment happening in the South West.

North Losing Grips

For a region that had over the years, maintained a grip on Nigeria’s polity, the 2023 election exposed what many had suspected was the weakening of the north as a political entity. The attempt by Buhari to chose his own successor was thwarted by ambitious governors from the north, who apart from nursing individual ambitions of becoming vice president, genuinely feared that the future of the APC, if not the country itself, would be in jeopardy should the region attempt to retain power. Tinubu’s deep pocket, it must also be said, was a huge factor.

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Abdullahi Adamu, then APC chairman, had apparently with Buhari’s blessings, attempted to foist then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as APC presidential candidate, but the move not only collapsed, but also cost the former Nasarawa State governor his seat as APC chairman.

Tinubu went on to emerge candidate, and ultimately president, after winning the majority of northern votes ahead of Atiku.

Going into 2027, the reasoning within the emergent northern opposition, it seems, is that the region having been instrumental to Tinubu’s emergence as president, would still be able to vote him out. But if anything, the 2023 election showed that the north has become vulnerable and can hardly now act as one entity.

There is little doubt that anger is growing in the north, as much as the rest of the country, as economic and security challenges mount. And the inherent strengths of the region, such is its voting population and huge landmass cannot be wished away. But with huge financial war chest and power of incumbency, Tinubu is likely to still buy support in the region.

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More importantly, with the overt promotion of religious politics in the region, coupled by mounting banditry and attacks by herders, which has also in some ways, assumed ethnic and religious colouration, there is now a situation, where a large chunk of what is originally known as the north no longer want to be identified as such. The much of the Christian north, cutting across much of the North Central, and fringes of the North East and North West, has opted for a new identity, the Middle Belt.

The decision of Tinubu to run a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023 was politically expedient. It helped to rally the core Muslim North behind him. But the down side of the ticket is that it was a direct message to the Christians in the region that they are not North enough, when it comes to politics.

“The north is no longer the cohesive political factor it used to be. In addition to banditry, kidnapping and poverty, the north has over the years been the scene of great, big bleeding batches of inter and intra-communal, sectarian crises rupturing the tensile political fabric of the region. There are sections of the north that do not want to belong to the same political party as other northerners and less even with any overarching northern political project,” wrote Iliyasu Gadu, a veteran columnist and media expert in a recent piece.

“There are sections and groups in the north, who have come to detach themselves from any political or social project in the north for the justifiable reason that the north no longer functions as an inclusive political entity for all northerners. Such people believe the north is now captive to exclusive interests and are using it in an opportunistic way for their advancement.”

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Gadu asserted that in the present realities, “no candidate of commensurate status and strength can match President Tinubu in the 2027 game. The Atikus, Kwankwasos, El-Rufais, Bala Kauras and Zulums are formidable in their rights, but Tinubu, for many reasons, is miles ahead of them politically.”

He further asserted that, “As for platforms, whatever the north can bring up will have to contend with the octopoid political tentacles of the Asiwaju Political Holdings (APH) in the Nigerian political space. The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is a no-go area for the probable northern political counterattack. And in the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the APH will have by arrangement agents to block any northerner from emerging as a presidential candidate. In the run-up to 2027, the Asiwaju Political Holding will work overtime to ensure that other political parties are not in a position to offer any northerner their presidential ticket.”

Indeed, part of Atiku’s major undoing in 2023 was the split within the PDP, which saw the Nyesom Wike led faction, comprising of five sitting governors, break ranks to back Tinubu in the election. The main opposition party is yet to recover from the split, and with Wike now serving as FCT Minister under the Tinubu government, while maintaining a grip on the party, the PDP is now effectively another wing of the APC.

This will be a huge challenge for Atiku and whatever structure he hopes to build to challenge Tinubu in 2027.

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“It should be clear that the PDP is already out of the equation as a political party that can effectively contest and win power,” said Chidi Anthony, an Abuja based lawyer and political analyst. “Atiku’s refusal to stand down in 2023, when it was clearly the turn of the South destroyed the PDP fundamentally. The party had to go against its own constitution to enable Atiku to run. So, what Wike and his likes are doing is just symptoms of the rot in the party.”

Peter Obi, the former Anambra State governor, who broke away from the PDP to run on the platform of Labour Party, came third with over 6m votes, according to the results announced by INEC. His supporters insist he won the election. But going into 2027, Labour is now locked seemingly intractable leadership crisis.

The Atiku camp are muting the idea of a joint ticket with Obi in 2027, but neither group is likely to accept the vice presidential slot.

“I do not see an Atiku/Obi ticket happening in 2027. And mind you, Obi running under Labour Party was able to achieve that 2023 feat because INEC convinced everybody that the election would be free and fair. That will not the case. In 2027, whatever shortcomings witnessed in 2023 will be child’s play, considering that Tinubu is now president and he has foot soldiers across the regions,” concluded Anthony.

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Just in: INEC dumps recall petition against Sen Natasha

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The Independent National Electoral Commission,( INEC) has rejected the petition to recall the Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, inadequate.

The electoral umpire via its 𝕏 handle on Thursday, April 3, 2025, made this known in a terse statement where it disclosed that the group, who initiated the process did not meet the requirements of the constitution.

INEC in a tweet on its ‘X’ handle said; “The petition for the recall of the Senator representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

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US cancels ex- president ,Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias visa

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A former president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, says his US visa has been revoked.

Arias, a Nobel laureate, said he was informed of the decision weeks after he had publicly criticised Donald Trump, comparing the behaviour of the US president to that of a Roman emperor.

The 84-year-old, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering an end to conflicts in Central America, said US authorities had given no explanation.

Arias hinted, however, that it may be due to his rapprochement with China during the time he was president from 2006 to 2010.

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Speaking at a news conference in the Costa Rican capital, San José, Arias said he had “no idea” what the reason for the cancellation was.

He said he had received a “terse” email “of a few lines” from the US government informing him of the decision.

He added that he thought that it was not President Trump but the US State Department, which had taken the decision.

While he said it would be conjecture on his part to speculate about the reason behind the visa revocation, he did point out that “I established diplomatic relations with China.

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“That, of course, is known throughout the world,” he told journalists of his 2007 decision to cut ties with Taiwan and establish them with China instead.

The Trump administration has sought to oppose China’s influence in the Western hemisphere and has accused a number of Central American governments of cosying up to the Chinese government and Chinese companies.

However, it has been supportive of the current Costa Rican President, Rodrigo Chaves, praising his decision to exclude Chinese firms from participating in the development of 5G in Costa Rica.

But this perceived closeness between President Chaves and the US was criticised by Arias, who wrote a post on social media in February saying that “it has never been easy for a small country to disagree with the US government, less so when its president behaves like a Roman emperor, telling the rest of the world what to do”.

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He added that “during my governments, Costa Rica never received orders from Washington as if we were a banana republic.”

Arias is not the only Costa Rican to have had his US visa revoked. Three members of the country’s national assembly who opposed President Chaves’s decree to exclude Chinese companies from participating in the development of 5G have also had theirs cancelled. [BBC]

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Natasha: Kogi PDP hammers Ododo, reiterates unfeigned support for her

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…says state govt’s attempts to silence opposition won’t stand

…calls on IGP to immediately release detained members

Following the desperate, despicable and perfidious attempts by the Kogi state Government to gag, and hound opposition parties through the restrictions on rallies, convoy movements, and similar solidarity activities across the state, Kogi state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has roundly criticized, and totally condemned such moves.

Arising from the state Exco meeting, held Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, the PDP, having done proper analysis of the situation, believes that the move is targeted at Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

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This was contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Umoru Tijani Aruwa State Publicity Secretary
Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) further declaring that:

“Obviously afraid of our highly performing, and resourceful Senator, the state government had to resort to jittery, fearful, and incongrous instructions which are glaring infringement on her fundamental rights to freedom of movement and association.

“The undemocratic actions which have the tone, tenor, and texture of autocratism and despotism was clearly targeted at preventing Kogi state’s (and Nigeria’s) legislative amazon from meeting her constituents who organized the home-coming for her.

“It is highly shameful, preposterous, and cynical that the state government in their failed attempt to silence Akpoti-Uduaghan, effected the arrest of some officials and key personalities of our party in Kogi Central District; days before the event. From reports, many party faithful across the five LGAs that make up the District suffered varied degrees of harassment, intimidation, and coercion. Indeed, there were inglorious, and shameless attempts by alleged agents of the state government to induce some of our party members. But, all these desperate moves failed, comprehensively!

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“Happily, all these tongue-follery attempts, ludicrous activities, and wanton shenanigans failed woefully; as the constituents and supporters, across all political parties thronged out in their numbers to solidarize and re-enact their support for Akpoti-Uduaghan.

” The visit, has once again shown that the people of Kogi Central District are not only with but also identify with her despite attempts to silence her progressive and patriotic voice by few, privileged individuals in the Senate, and collaborators in Kogi state.

“Given the outpouring of love, commendation, and eulogies extended by the people to Akpoti-Uduaghan at the event, irrespective of the numerous bobby-traps and devilish bottlenecks orchestrated by the APC government in Kogi, it clearly shows that the constituents are at home with their daughter. That the tumultuous gathering, which was organic defied all man-made encumbrances to proudly identify with her, and pass resounding confidence-vote on Akpoti-Uduaghan has rubbished every earlier plans by the Kogi state government to put forward wrong narratives about the Senatorial District.

“While we strongly urge the state government to allow the freedom of speech, movement, and association to fully thrive; without let or hate amongst the people of Kogi, we appeal that every dictatorial actions, and totalitarian tendencies that are capable of truncating democratic ethos must be put away by the present administration in the state.

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“As a party, the Kogi state PDP chapter, declares unequivocal support, and stands; firmly without reservations with Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan. We also reiterate that the good people of Kogi state will continue to show utmost solidarity with her, as she forges ahead in her fight against abuse, harassment, intimidation, and segregation.

“The PDP commend the courage, doggedness, and sacrifices of the people of Kogi Central District who defied all odds to attend the home-coming event, and have also remained consistent and resolute in their respective and collective support for Akpoti-Uduaghan. Be assured that we have resolved; as always to stand with you, all.

“Finally, we call on the Inspector-General of Police, the leadership of all relevant security agencies to ensure the immediate release of all our party members that were unlawfully arrested under nebulous, and spurious guises by the state government.

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