By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Councillors across Nigeria have disclosed of their inability to support any other presidential candidate aside President Bola Tinubu in 2027, anchoring their decision on the 2024 Supreme Court judgment that freed local government allocations from state control, alongside road and housing gains under Ministers Dave Umahi and Nyesom Wike.
President of the National Councillors Forum of Nigeria NCFN, Hon. Evoh Okechukwu Nwikegwu, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the Forum’s National Executive Council meeting themed “The Way Forward for NCFN: Unity, Hope and Grassroots Development.”
Nwikegwu linked the Forum’s political backing for the President directly to what he described as the gains local governments have recorded under the Tinubu administration, particularly the Supreme Court judgment, secured on the President’s request, which mandated that allocations to the 774 local government areas be paid directly from the Federation Account into local government coffers.
He noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN had since been directed to open dedicated accounts for local governments to receive these allocations, a development he described as a fiscal liberation that gives councillors good reason to rally behind the President’s reelection.
He also cited the gains of the Renewed Hope Agenda in the area of ongoing road infrastructure projects under the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, as well as the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme, as governance achievements that councillors should key into and help publicise at the grassroots as part of efforts to strengthen the case for the President’s second term.
Speaking further, Nwikegwu called on councillors nationwide to close ranks and mobilise the grassroots in support of the President, describing councillors as the political machinery best positioned to deliver such support at the ward level.
He told council members drawn from across the country that with the election cycle approaching, there was a lot of work ahead, and stressed that the Forum needed to be focused and united to make its importance felt as the channel through which the grassroots can be reached.
According to him, councillors, being the tier of government closest to the people, must now be poised and strategic in ensuring their voices are heard and their usefulness felt in the coming electoral cycle, warning members to shun all divisive elements at this critical time.
He added that councillors have for long been relegated to the background despite being the most important tier of government, and that the period ahead of 2027 presents an opportunity for the Forum to reassert its relevance, both in governance and in the political process.
Nwikegwu reminded members that power comes with responsibility, and that people will judge them not by their titles, but by what they deliver in their wards, a standard he said should also guide their role in mobilising support for the President’s reelection.
He announced that the Forum would inaugurate committees to aid collaboration and synergy with relevant government agencies, and urged members to use the Forum’s structures across the 774 local government areas to ensure that the dividends of the administration’s programmes are felt directly by citizens, arguing that visible impact at the grassroots would itself be one of the strongest arguments for the President’s reelection.
According to him, mobilisation efforts must be backed by unity within the Forum itself, warning that a divided body would be easily ignored and would struggle to deliver either development or political results.
He also cautioned against parallel leadership structures within the NCFN, insisting he remains its sole recognised National President and directing the Legal Adviser to investigate unauthorised meetings held in the Forum’s name, saying such distractions must not be allowed to weaken the Forum’s focus on the task ahead.
“A united and focused Forum was essential if councillors were to succeed both in delivering grassroots development and in mobilising support for President Tinubu’s reelection bid,” Nwikegwu said.
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