Tinubu, Northern Nigeria And Uba Sani’s 2027 declarations

By Ayorinde Oluokun

After a busy day going round the projects that have been executed by the federal and his administration from Zuba in Abuja to Kaduna State, a group of over 50 journalists led by the presidential media team sat down at a dinner with Governor Uba Sanni late last Thursday.

The dinner which dovetailed many minutes into early hours of Friday was another other opportunity for the state government through its various commissioners to further elaborate on the strides being made by the Uba Sani administration in the areas of health, infrastructure development, health, education among others.

Central to the presentations by the commissioners to the media and the presidential team on the trip facilitated by Renewed Hope Ambassadors was the fact that the state government has been able to embark on such massive undertakings because of the increased allocation coming to its purse from the federal purse.

Speaking after his commissioners, Governor Sani not only acknowledged the fact of the increased allocation of funds from the federal purse to the states as a result of the reforms of President Bola Tinubu, but he linked it to his ability to deliver inclusive infrastructural development has enabled return of peace in the previously troubled parts of Kaduna State.

He noted that his administration had for instance, been able to execute projects in 12 local government areas of the state that had not even experienced the tarring of one kilometer of road in the 12 years before the advent of his administration. “Today, why are we doing projects? It’s because President Tinubu is supporting the subnational more than any government before him. He understands that developments must be from the grassroots,” he said while linking the development to the President’s advocacy for true federalism.
“We are together in the trenches fighting for true federalism and he understands that development must be at the grassroots from the bottom to up and that is why he believes in empowering subnational, supporting local governments,” he said.

Sani also attributed the restoration of peace in the once banditry ravaged Birni Gwari area of the state to the intervention of the President. He noted that the President had during his campaign in 2023 travelled the very bad road under a heavy security to Birnin Gwari.

He noted that the President’s had promised to tackle twin problems of insecurity and bad road after the visit. “When we came in, Tinubu promised us that the first thing he will do is to address the problem of insecurity first and after that, he will look at infrastructure. We used to experience the problem of farmers-herders crisis nearly every month. Today, we have not experienced on ethno-religious crisis in Kaduna in three years. He has fulfilled his promise and that’s why the people of Birnin Gwari will forever be grateful to President Tinubu,” the governor said. He further noted that that the return of relative peace to Birnin Gwari has boosted social economic activities in the area.

“Today, you go to Birni Gwari, you see hundreds of vehicles passing to Lagos, it has improved the prosperity of our people. People are farming. It has improved the business of those into farming, trading, people are making a lot of money because of what the President has done for us,” he said.

Thus, Sani also urged his colleagues to take advantage of support of the President to synergise with the Federal Government and the security agencies to tackle the problem of insecurity in their states. “As a governor, you must understand the symptoms and drivers of insecurity in your communities. We are enjoying peace now because we sit down, understand the problems and we don’t expect the President to come to Birni Gwari or to go to Kachia. All we need is the support of the president and security agencies. And thank God, Tinubu has established that synergy between the federal government and the subnational governments,” he said.

The tour by the media and the president’s media team was organized against the background of struggle for 2027 presidency with some aspirants’ clear attempt to weaponise claim of neglect of the Northern Nigeria by against the Tinubu’s administration. Of course, starting from Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, where reconstruction with concrete pavement and solar-powered streetlights is ongoing, he 21-kilometre Kaduna Western Bypass, a project abandoned for over 22 years which is now about 50 per cent completed and the Kaduna-Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project linking Northern states with Niger Republic among others, journalists on the tour have seen enough to dispute such claim.

Thus, it was not a surprise that Sani defended the records of the president even without prompting. The Governor noted that the President has done for the North in terms of infrastructure development is more than what any leader had done for the region. He also dismissed claims of critics that Tinubu has concentrated development in the South-West part of the country.

He referenced two projects approved for Kaduna and Kano States that Thursday as well as ongoing projects across the North to buttress his claim: “This afternoon, two major projects were approved for Kaduna by the Federal Executive Council. Number one is the Kaduna Light Rail. It’s about N1 trillion. And when people are talking about Asiwaju supporting the South, Is Kaduna in the South West? Kaduna is in the North. “Again today, the Federal Executive Council approved the construction of Mando to Birnin Gwari road –over 100 Kilometres about 178 billion. This is a road that has been bad for over two decades. Also, today another project was approved for Kano State state – over one trillion naira. So, for me, no President has supported Northern Nigeria like President Bola Tinubu going to about three years now.”

While warning Nigerians against those he described as ant-democratic forces, Sani assured that the President will not have any opposition in Kaduna in 2027: “I can assure you that Kaduna State, as we are speaking, we have no opposition. We have turned Kaduna into one party state and we have no apology for that.

Hence, contrary to the claim of the opposition, Sani said the President can only lose the election if it’s conducted on the social media. According to him, the results of the recent by-elections
have shown that the ruling party still has the hearts of the people. “When I was talking last year during the bye-election, I said If election are going to be conducted on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, Asiwaju will lose. But if it is the people that will vote through the ballot he is going to win 70 per cent of the votes. Go and write it down. It is about what is one the ground. We must appreciate President Tinubu,” he said.