By Koyce Ekeh
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has used its rally in Kaduna to project a united Northern front behind President Bola Tinubu ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election, with party leaders insisting that the region remains committed to his re-election.
The rally, held at the Kaduna Township Stadium, attracted governors, former governors, legislators, party stalwarts and supporters from across the North, in a show of political support that the organisers said countered claims that the region had turned against the President.
In his assessment of the gathering, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media and Director of Media and Communication of Arewa for Asiwaju, described the turnout as evidence of the enduring political relationship between Tinubu and the North.
He argued that the relationship predated Tinubu’s emergence as President, tracing it to his involvement in the politics of the Third Republic and his alliances with prominent Northern political figures.
According to him, Tinubu aligned with the Peoples Front associated with the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the early 1990s, before becoming senator representing Lagos West in 1992 on the Social Democratic Party platform.
Abdulaziz also cited Tinubu’s subsequent political alliances with Northern figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Nuhu Ribadu, former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, as examples of his longstanding political engagement with the region.
He said the Arewa for Asiwaju movement was seeking to strengthen that relationship through grassroots mobilisation and communication in local languages, while presenting the administration’s policies and projects to Northern voters.
The rally also provided APC leaders an opportunity to defend the Tinubu administration’s record and appeal for support ahead of the next election.
Vice President Kashim Shettima urged voters to consider the alternatives before them and renew the APC’s mandate for another term.
“We won in 2023 not because we were the wisest or richest, but because you saw the options before you and knew the alternative was a calamity. We have come to ask you to renew a second term for the APC from top to bottom,” Shettima said.
Similarly, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign, expressed confidence in the party’s support base in the North.
“By God’s grace, Northern Nigeria is 101 per cent behind you, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we are determined to deliver our promise on 16 January 2027,” Yari said.
Speaking in Hausa, Yari also expressed confidence that the President would secure victory in the election.
President Tinubu used the rally to inaugurate an 81-kilometre section of the Kaduna-Abuja highway through a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony, presenting the project as part of his administration’s infrastructure record.
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, in his welcome address, highlighted projects and interventions he said had benefited the state under the Tinubu administration, including roads, rail development, universities and health institutions.
Abdulaziz argued that such projects, alongside the establishment of the Ministry of Livestock Development, the North Central Development Commission and the North West Development Commission, should form part of the debate over the administration’s impact on the North.
He also cited new federal universities in Mubi, Kachia and Kabo, as well as the Kano-Maradi rail project and the Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi road, among the initiatives he said demonstrated the administration’s attention to the region.
The article further argued that the Arewa for Asiwaju movement intended to counter misinformation and promote the administration’s record through community-level engagement in Hausa, Fulfulde, Tiv, Nupe, Gbagyi and Kanuri, among other languages.
While the rally showcased the APC’s mobilisation capacity and the public backing of prominent Northern party figures, the extent to which that support will translate into votes remains to be determined at the ballot box.
Abdulaziz is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media and Director of Media and Communication, Arewa for Asiwaju.
