Rabiu Kwankwaso, the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to assume that controlling more than 30 states will guarantee victory in the 2027 elections.
Kwankwaso, a former Kano State governor, also claimed that some governors, particularly in Northern Nigeria, may struggle to openly campaign for President Bola Tinubu because of what he described as their poor performance.
He made the comments on Thursday at an NDC Town Hall Meeting in Rivers State.
Kwankwaso said having many governors does not automatically mean that a political party will win an election.
“The sitting president lost the election. I’m giving you an example, especially those who think because they have over 30 governors, they cannot lose the election. That is a very big mistake,” he said.
He said past elections had shown that an incumbent government could lose despite having strong political control across several states.
The former Kano governor also said some Northern governors may find it difficult to campaign for their parties in 2027 because of public dissatisfaction with their performance.
“By the grace of God, all of them, especially the ones in the North, because I studied the trend. The trend is those governors and their party have performed woefully to the extent that it is very difficult for them even to come out and campaign,” he said.
Kwankwaso also questioned how governments have used the increased revenue available to them, saying higher allocations have not resulted in better living conditions for Nigerians.
He recalled that when he became governor in 1999, state and local governments received much less money.
“Now in one year, we have seen it on social media that our government collected over N1.11tn, just less than one year. You go around, what have you done with that money? Close to nothing,” he said.
According to him, the gap between government revenue and the living conditions of Nigerians is increasing public anger.
He said the situation is even more serious in Northern Nigeria because of the continued insecurity in the region.
30 governors won’t guarantee APC victory in 2027 – Kwankwaso