Babachir Lawal: 2027: Northern Governors Won’t Be Re-elected Unless They Join ADC 

•Says Kwankwaso is right, Tinubu marginalising north

•Lukman warns opposition leaders against imposition, godfatherism

Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has stated that all elected officials in the North, including governors seeking re-election, would not be re-elected unless they join the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Speaking in an interview, Lawal said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has destroyed and marginalised the North, adding that most elected officials in the North would be left with no choice but to defect to the ADC ahead of the 2027 general election.

“Which northern elected official will go to campaign on the platform of the APC this coming election? Nobody. Unless ab initio, you have no plan to win election. I can’t see anywhere,” he said.

Asked if his claim applied to governors seeking re-election, he said, “Unless they join the ADC, they will not win…simply because they belong to a destructive party. A party that woefully failed to perform.”

The former SGF said most northern governors would have to join the ADC if they intended to contest the election, revealing also that the opposition party has already discussed with some of the governors

Lawal echoed Rabiu Kwankwaso’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, alleging deliberate neglect of northern Nigeria in terms of infrastructure development.

“Every Nigerian that has anything to do with the north will know that no infrastructure work is going on at any level.

“No projects are going on — at least they are not visible to the eye. Maybe in their imagination, maybe in the spirit — but we don’t see it.

“We don’t see any construction work. We don’t see any infrastructure going on. No federal government project whatsoever,” he said.

Lawal defended Kwankwaso’s earlier assertions about neglect, noting that both he and the former Kano governor shared a technical background that makes them attentive to physical development.

In a swift rebuttal, Minister of Works, David Umahi, had dismissed Kwankwaso’s argument, calling it “misleading and unfair to the president”.

According to Umahi, 52 per cent of the total stretch of Tinubu’s key road initiatives lies within the northern part of the country, including a major section of the Sokoto–Badagry superhighway which covered 756 kilometers were in the north.

Backing Umahi, presidential media aide, Sunday Dare, also defended the administration, insisting that more than 40 key projects and programmes were either ongoing or had been maintained across northern states.

He, however, dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

Lukman Warns ADC Leaders Against Imposition, God-fatherism

One of the arrowheads of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Salihu Lukman, has warned the leadership of the party against god-fatherism and imposition among the leaders at all levels ahead of the 2027 elections.

Lukman, in a statement titled: “ADC and the Prospect of Internal Democracy” cautioned the leaders of the party that Nigerians would not be deceived by any cosmetic design of presenting another party, which is only a duplicate of their old parties.

The former National Vice Chairman, North-west of the APC, expressed fears that with the way things were going, coalition leaders would emerge as godfathers, and subsequently impose their surrogates at all levels as leaders of the ADC.

Lukman pointed out that  when the national leadership positions of ADC were shared to zones, coalition leaders who were only nominees into the committee that negotiated the sharing arrangement, promoted themselves into becoming the leaders of their zones.

“The struggle to ensure that loyalists of leaders emerged as the leaders of the reformed ADC to some extent disregard the consideration for intellectual capacity, integrity, performance track records, name recognition across all demographics, respect in community and political circles, independent mindedness and general acceptability to all or majority of stakeholders, which we agreed to.

“We must caution our leaders, Nigerians will not be deceived by any cosmetic design of presenting another party, which is only a duplicated our old parties. With the way things are going, coalition leaders will emerge as godfathers, and the next thing is that they will impose their surrogates at all levels as leaders of the ADC.”