By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Ahead of the 2027 presidential election, the Nigeria Forward Project has urged political stakeholders in Northern Nigeria to respect the principle of power rotation and allow President Bola Tinubu from the South to complete his eight-year presidential tenure before seeking to reclaim power.
The positions were canvassed on Friday in Abuja at the formal unveiling of Nigeria Forward NF, a mass mobilisation platform established to promote national unity, citizen engagement and continuity in governance ahead of the 2027 general elections and beyond, built around the belief that sustaining the gains of the administration’s Renewed Hope reforms is a collective responsibility.
Speaking at the event, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology and a Convener of the movement, Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, said the Federal Government’s ongoing reforms were designed to move Nigeria “from infrastructure and connectivity to production, jobs and prosperity”.
He described the administration’s development trajectory as a progression “from reform to infrastructure, infrastructure to connectivity, connectivity to production, production to jobs and jobs to prosperity.”
Udeh said Nigeria Forward would bridge the gap between government policies and citizens by providing Nigerians with information on projects, investments, opportunities and the impact of government programmes in their communities, stressing that Nigeria’s development story, particularly that of the North, should not be reduced to political slogans or isolated project announcements.
Speaking at the event, the Co-Convener of the project and Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya, argued that the North should not seek to return to the presidency after only one term of the current administration, insisting that allowing Tinubu to complete an eight-year tenure would promote continuity and give the government the opportunity to consolidate its policies.
He urged Nigerians to focus on consolidating what he described as the gains of the administration rather than allowing electoral competition to reopen sectional divisions.
Waiya said Tinubu inherited significant economic and security challenges on assuming office in 2023, and that the administration had since introduced measures which, in his assessment, were putting the country on a different trajectory.
Urging Nigerians to look beyond what he called primordial sentiments deployed by opposition politicians for electoral purposes, he cited local government autonomy, increased financial resources accruing to sub-national governments, and moves towards establishing state police structures as reforms capable of strengthening governance and improving security.
He disclosed that Kano State had already set up a state police implementation committee, which he said would contribute to job creation and enhance security once fully implemented.
Waiya, however, cautioned that addressing poverty in Northern Nigeria should not be regarded solely as the President’s responsibility, arguing that democracy required citizens, governments and other stakeholders to engage and demand solutions.
“Democracy is a social project,” he said, stressing that Nigeria Forward was established to encourage citizens to match political discussions with practical action.
He described the platform as a “rainbow coalition” belonging to Nigerians rather than any particular political party, and called on citizens to rally around the national interest, insisting Nigeria had the potential to become a great country if its people remained united and committed to moving the nation forward.
The post 2027: Give Tinubu 8 years, Nigeria Forward tells Northern politicians appeared first on Vanguard News.