Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Saturday formally flagged off the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign for the 2027 general elections in Kaduna, seeking a second term on the strength of his administration’s record.
Speaking at the Murtala Muhammed Square, Kaduna, the President said it was a great honour to return to the historic city where Nigeria’s early leaders converged before independence.
Tinubu thanked Kaduna voters for the victory they gave him in 2023, saying he had come to thank them and seek their mandate for a second term to fulfil his promises of prosperity, continuity and progress.
He dismissed opposition talk about hunger, saying: “Who created it? They did. We are trying to eradicate it,” noting that his administration and APC governors now pay salaries regularly and are developing their states.
The President urged supporters to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and come out en masse on 16 January 2027 to re-elect the APC at all levels. “Fuel subsidy is in our past. No more corruption, no more falsification of invoices, no more smuggling. We are ushering in a new era,” he said.
Vice President Kashim Shettima said Nigerians elected Tinubu in 2023 not because he was the richest or the best speaker, but because the alternative was calamity, and he urged the people of Kaduna to renew the APC’s mandate.
Shettima listed gains in Kaduna, including the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, the Federal University of Education, Zaria, vocational institutes in Rigachikun, Soba and Samaru Kataf with over 4,000 graduates, and NELFUND support for students.
He said Tinubu has identified with the North for years, recalling how he gave political succour to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in 2007, supported Nuhu Ribadu in 2011 and stood behind the late President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019, describing Tinubu as a man of honour.
Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, said Kaduna is the spiritual centre of Northern politics and that all northern governors were present to show their support.
Yari said Tinubu’s economic record — from exchange rate reforms to subsidy removal and the trade balance — shows improvement, adding that the APC will campaign on its records in infrastructure, health, education and cash transfers.
He declared: “Northern Nigeria is 101 per cent for you, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by God’s grace.”
Governor Uba Sani, who welcomed guests, paid tribute to Tinubu and First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu for their love for Kaduna and the North, saying the Renewed Hope Agenda has brought massive interventions in transport, education, healthcare, agriculture and security.
Sani recalled that Tinubu defied security advice to travel to Birnin Gwari in December 2022, and has now fulfilled his promises, with N117 billion released for the 123km Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road abandoned for over 40 years, and the restoration of security on the corridor.
He also cited the ongoing Zaria-Soba-Pambegua road, the $865 million Kaduna Metropolitan Red Line with $300 million already mobilised, N84 billion in NELFUND benefits to North-West students, and 95 per cent completion of the N740 billion Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway.
Sani challenged the “so-called Northern candidate” to show a track record of 200km of road while in office, noting that over 1,000km of roads have been constructed in the North under Tinubu and Shettima.
He warned supporters to be vigilant, alleging the opposition has upgraded its campaign “from Facebook and Twitter to AI.”
