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Former lawmaker Senator Shehu Sani has labelled the recent meeting of Northern politicians with former President Muhammadu Buhari as a calculated effort to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
On Sunday, June 23, photos of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State visiting Buhari went viral on social media. This was just a day after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had also met with him in Daura, Katsina State.
Atiku and El-Rufai are at odds with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna and at the federal level.
Sani commented that this move attempts to consolidate Northern political power for the upcoming elections but believes it will ultimately fail.
According to Daily Trust, he criticised the effort to rekindle Buhari’s political clout and rally support, warning against igniting Arewa sentiment without considering the potential unrest it could provoke.
He said, “The recent visits by some prominent Northern politicians to Daura appears to be the Usual Eid homage, but looking deeper and beyond the facade, it’s surreptitiously a new attempt to build a strong northern alliance using ex-President Buhari as a rallying point to challenge and evict President Tinubu’s Government in 2027.
“It’s a regrouping of Northern political forces for the next general election. A project that will eventually kiss the dust. They want to resurrect Buhari’s political charm, fanaticism and mobilise the gullible to another hollow and bewildering end. They want to stock up and light up the Arewa sentiment without considering the inferno it would eventually generate.”
Buhari’s govt worsened situation in northern Nigeria - Shehu Sani
Senator Sani criticised former President Buhari for worsening conditions in the North during his eight-year tenure, highlighting that poverty and insecurity reached unprecedented levels.
He argued that those in power squandered their opportunity and questioned their intentions if given another chance.
Sani also mentioned that a Southerner has only been in power for a year, and it’s too soon for the northern elite to begin their power plays.
He pointed out that the South didn’t undermine Buhari’s presidency, warning that such actions could destabilise democracy and harm the country’s fragile unity if the South became aware of these schemes.
“The Daura homage of the disgruntled and the obsessed will fail. Our people in the North should reject these faces and their plots. They have nothing to offer. From the abandoned Baro Port, Ajaokuta, Lake Chad basin refiling and Mambilla hydropower, they failed. They came to power when the North was in the hands of terrorists and left it in the joint hands of terrorists and Bandits. The Northern Talakawa should reject their antics,” he added.