Dr Iliyasu Musa Kwankwaso, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, on Monday, said the North will not be swayed by ethnic or regional sentiments in the 2027 presidential election.
Iliyasu, in an interview with newsmen, insisted that voters in the region are increasingly looking beyond identity politics in determining their political choices.
The Director of Finance Hadejia Jammaare River Basin Development Authority explained that the political atmosphere in the North had changed significantly, with voters now more conscious of governance, development and tangible benefits than appeals based solely on northern identity.
He said the region could no longer be assumed to support a candidate simply because of his geographical or ethnic background, stressing that the electorate would scrutinise the records and propositions of the contenders before making choice.
“The North has no candidate for 2027 because the two candidates from the North are not of the people. Ethno-political card will not favour them,” he said.
The APC stalwart was particularly dismissive of attempts to make ethnicity a central instrument of mobilisation ahead of the election, arguing that the strategy would have diminishing influence among northern voters.
According to him, developments across the region have also given voters issues beyond identity politics to consider, particularly as major federal projects are being executed in different sectors.
He maintained that the Tinubu administration had demonstrated what he described as a commitment to the North through the continuation of inherited projects and the commencement of new interventions, giving citizens tangible development outcomes to assess.
“Tinubu means well for the North, going by the ongoing trillion-naira projects in the region. He sustained and drew a lifeline for the completion of inherited projects and kick-started new ones,” Iliyasu said.
He further argued that the visibility of such projects was gradually changing public perceptions of governance, claiming that ordinary northerners were increasingly able to relate political choices to concrete development outcomes rather than ethnic affiliations.
“A common man in the North has come to realise real development under Tinubu. They have seen it, felt it, and are convinced of Tinubu’s love for the region,” he said.
Iliyasu stressed that the North had substantial development interests to consider before 2027 and should not, in his words, sacrifice those interests for ethno-political calculations.
“The North has so many dividends to count under Tinubu than to gamble a golden opportunity,” he said.
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