People Tinubu Helped Before Abandoned Him in 2023, Says Yilwatda

Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor 

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has said that many of the politicians President Bola Ahmed Tinubu supported over the years withdrew their backing when he declared his ambition to contest the presidency in 2023, in remarks that underscored the ruling party’s determination to frame the 2027 election as a referendum on loyalty, reciprocity and the North’s political debt to the President.

Yilwatda spoke on Friday, October 9, 2026, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja while receiving defectors from opposition parties in Sokoto, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kano and Plateau states, according to Vanguard. “People that he has supported all through from the North and South, when he said he wanted to contest, most of them pulled out their support,” he said. He said Nigerians who had watched Tinubu’s record came out to vote him into office in 2023, notably for his role in the country’s unity and, in his words, for having “defended democracy with his life and his blood.”

The APC chairman went through what he described as Tinubu’s record of backing northern politicians, starting in 2007. “If anybody has worked for the unity of Nigeria, it is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in 2007, supported Atiku to become the president of Nigeria because he believed then that power should move from the South to the North,” Yilwatda said. Atiku Abubakar, now the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, was the Action Congress presidential candidate in 2007. Yilwatda said Tinubu did the same in 2011 with the present National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who ran as a presidential candidate under the Action Congress of Nigeria. “He supported and sponsored his network to ensure that he became the president of Nigeria. He’s from the North,” he said.

In 2015, Yilwatda said, Tinubu “stood behind President Buhari” with the argument that “for the unity of Nigeria and social cohesion, power should move back to the North because we lost President Yar’Adua.” He added that in 2019, “when a lot of the northern elders and politicians left Buhari, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stood for him and led a reconciliation committee that brought Nigerians together to support President Buhari” for a second term. The APC chairman said the pattern demonstrated a consistent commitment to national unity and to the North, and that the region should now reciprocate by supporting Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

Yilwatda’s remarks came as the ruling party received defectors from the ADC and the NDC from five northern states. Checks by Saturday Tribune revealed that nine of the 12 defectors from the two opposition parties had been candidates for House of Representatives seats, while the other three had aspired to seats in their respective state Houses of Assembly before defecting to the APC. Yilwatda urged the new members to support Tinubu and his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, describing their defection as a sign of confidence in the President. “You are not just changing a platform, but you are coming in to join us in reinforcing our belief in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda,” he said.

The APC chairman also defended Tinubu’s infrastructure record in the North, citing the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano road, the Kano–Maiduguri road, and rail links including the Kano–Maradi and Kaduna–Kano lines, as well as the proposed Kano metro rail system. “Most times, they deceive you. They say, ‘What has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu done for the North?’ They keep on saying that. Why did he spend that kind of infrastructure in the South? He’s doing it for us, and we said he has done nothing for us,” Yilwatda said. He also defended the administration’s economic reforms, arguing that the government had inherited substantial unpaid obligations in the aviation, power and gas sectors, as well as obligations to investors, which previous administrations had failed to resolve. According to him, the Tinubu administration has been addressing these liabilities while attempting to redirect government spending towards capital projects.

The APC chairman challenged the opposition’s proposals, including a pledge of a N500-per-litre discount on petrol, which he said would cost about N20 trillion a year, “about half of our budget as a country.” He argued that government does not have the crude to give, since about 60 per cent of oil production is tied to joint ventures in which the Federal Government owns only part of the production. He also accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of selling public assets below their construction costs during the privatisation exercise. The Presidency has previously accused Atiku of corruption, while Atiku’s camp has dismissed such allegations as politically motivated. The APC chairman’s remarks on the opposition’s fuel policy echo the ruling party’s broader argument that the ADC’s and NDC’s promises are fiscally unsustainable.

The political context of Yilwatda’s remarks is significant. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. President Tinubu is seeking a second term on the APC platform, while Atiku is contesting on the ADC ticket with former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate, former Anambra Governor Peter Obi is flying the flag of the NDC with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde is running on the Allied Peoples Movement platform. The APC has approved a campaign timetable that will see Tinubu formally flag off his re-election bid in Kaduna on October 24, followed by rallies in Port Harcourt and Maiduguri. The choice of Kaduna, a key northern state, and the presence of defectors from five northern states at the APC secretariat underscore the ruling party’s focus on consolidating its northern support base while projecting national reach.

Yilwatda’s intervention is part of a broader strategy by the ruling party to frame the 2027 election as a choice between continuity and a return to the past. The APC has consistently argued that Tinubu’s reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the exchange rate, are stabilising the economy and attracting investment, while critics contend that the measures have deepened hardship. By invoking Tinubu’s history of supporting northern politicians and accusing those who benefited from his support of abandoning him in 2023, Yilwatda is seeking to appeal to a sense of reciprocity among northern voters and to counter the narrative that the region has been neglected by the Tinubu administration. The defection of opposition figures from five northern states provides the APC with a tangible demonstration of its expanding support base, even as the broader political landscape remains fluid and contested.

For the people of the North, Yilwatda’s message is both an appeal and a warning: the region owes Tinubu a debt of gratitude for his past support, and the 2027 election is the opportunity to repay it. For the opposition, the defections and the APC’s northern mobilisation represent a challenge to their efforts to build a united front against the President. For Nigerians, the exchange is another reminder that the 2027 campaign will be fought not only over policies and performance but over the politics of loyalty, reciprocity and regional identity. As Yilwatda put it, people Tinubu supported all through from the North and South pulled out their support when he declared his candidacy, but the Nigerian people who had watched his record came out and voted him into office. The coming months will determine whether that pattern repeats itself in 2027.

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