…insists North yet to endorse any aspirant

Kwankwaso sneers, boasts coalition’ll defeat President next election

An elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has said at the moment, nobody has better chances of defeating President Bola Tinubu in the coming 2027 presidential election.

Yakasai stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He also said that as a key member of Arewa Consultative Forum, he was not aware of any forum where a position was taken by the north supporting a candidate from the zone for the 2027 presidential election.

“I haven’t heard anybody making any proposition about the 2027 presidential election from Arewa Consultative Forum.

“What is tagged the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders Forum’s position is mere individual opinions, because all sections of the north have not taken a stand on this,” he said.

Yakasai said that Nigerians should wait until the northerners meet and officially take a position.

” In Nigeria today, Bola Tinubu is the president. He has his ministers and governors who are backing him.

“Who else has all what it takes to move into the contest with the kind of stamina and strength to be more successful comparatively with Tinubu?” he asked.

Yakasai said that aside the ruling All Progressives Congress controlling majority of states, there are some other governors from the opposition parties still supporting Tinubu.

“We should all wait and see if the picture will change drastically, otherwise for now, the odds are in his (Tinubu’s) favour because I have not seen anything that will prevent him from winning the next election.

“He hasn’t done anything against the north in my understanding and the north alone cannot decide who becomes the president of the country,” he said.

According to him, the crisis rocking some of the major opposition parties has further softened the grounds for Tinubu to win in 2027.

In terms of assessment of the administration in the last two years, Yakasai said that he would not do so, for now.

He, however, advised Nigerian politicians to always have the interest of the masses at the centre of their actions and plans.

“Our politicians should see politics as a dynamic game and what I will advise is for them to play the game on the basis of ideology and programmes.

“Let them envision the way they want the country to be and not targeting to be ministers, governors and president.

“After becoming all these and nothing is done in the interest of the country, we will not get better.

“They should eschew politics of ethnicity and religion because not making our country the focal point of our politics has held us down for so long,” he said.

On the factors he could attribute his longevity to, Yakasai who would turn 100 years in December said it was a gift from God.

He said that his father died at the age of 107 years and that his mother died at almost 100 years, adding that the combined effects of the two might have equally contributed to his longevity.

“My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are more than 80 and still expanding. I give glory to God for these,” he said.

However, Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), during the last general election, Rabiu Kwankwaso said coalition with like- minds will oust president Tinubu in 2027.

Kwankwaso who disclosed that Tinubu had made multiple overtures, including direct phone calls and messages through mutual contacts, urging him to return to the APC, a party, he said, he helped establish but left.

Quoting Tinubu, Kwankwaso revealed the president’s promise that “all terms will be fulfilled; all conditions will be like pupils in your hands.”

Looking toward 2027, Kwankwaso revealed he is collaborating with like-minded patriots to build a “broad-based political movement.”

No amount of political maneuvering, propaganda, or elite bargains will stop the will of the people when the time comes.

Addressing Tinubu and his allies directly, Kwankwaso expressed gratitude for their overtures but reiterated his unwavering loyalty to Nigeria over any political party. “I remain committed to the cause of a better, stronger, and united Nigeria,” he added.