Tanko Yakassai tips Tinubu  for reelection in 2027

Speaking in an interview with the press in Abuja on Sunday, the nonagenarian said there is no candidate yet that is capable of dislodging Tinubu from the presidential villa in the next election.

The chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, also denied knowledge of any forum where the North took a decision to support a candidate from the zone for the next presidential election.

“I haven’t heard anybody making any proposition about the 2027 presidential election from Arewa Consultative Forum,” Yakassai said.

“What is tagged the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) or Northern Elders Forum’s position is mere individual opinions, because all sections of the north have not taken a stand on this.

“In Nigeria today, Bola Tinubu is the president. He has his ministers and governors who are backing him.

“Who else has all what it takes to move into the contest with the kind of stamina and strength to be more successful comparatively with Tinubu.”

According to Yakasai the internal crisis rocking some of the major opposition parties has made things easier Tinubu to retain his seat in 2027.

He observed that even though the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, controls majority of states, some governors from the opposition parties are still rooting for the president.

“We should all wait and see if the picture will change drastically, otherwise for now, the odds are in his (Tinubu’s) favour because I have not seen anything that will prevent him from winning the next election,” the elder statesman, who would attain 100 years of age in December, noted.

“He hasn’t done anything against the North in my understanding and the North alone cannot decide who becomes the president of the country.

He refused to assess Tinubu’s administration but urged Nigerian politicians to always work for the interest of the masses.

“Our politicians should see politics as a dynamic game and what I will advise is for them to play the game on the basis of ideology and programmes,” he said.

“Let them envision the way they want the country to be and not target to be ministers, governors and president.

“After becoming all these and nothing is done in the interest of the country, we will not get better.

”They should eschew politics of ethnicity and religion because not making our country the focal point of our politics has held us down for so long.”