A former senator who represented Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has urged Northern politicians eyeing the presidency in 2027 to allow President Bola Tinubu to complete a two-term tenure in the interest of peace and stability of the country.
Mr Sani, who made the appeal during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday, alleged plans by prominent northern political forces to use former President Muhammadu Buhari to undermine the administration of Mr Tinubu.
He said: “It is a tradition, a culture, a norm, or a ritual that each time you have a Sallah celebration, prominent people do visit the former President of this country, but I must clear the air by making a point.
“First of all, there is evidence of rallying of forces, regrouping of political forces from the North trying to use former President Buhari as a rally point in order to evict the government of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.”
According to him, the politicians, “hope to resurrect the political charms in the hearts of the masses and portray the government as the one that has been undermining the North and the one that has not been living up to his campaign promises”.
“Reason being that he has the highest votes from there, and I must warn that an attempt to do that can create a serious problem for our country,” he added.
The activist further said no serious Southerner attempted to remove Mr Buhari from power during his eight years tenure.
“Buhari has been in power for eight years and there has never been any serious Southerner who challenged his government in terms of trying to remove him out of office.
“Secondly, we should know that before you think of power, you think of the whole country. We should be thinking of a united country, a peaceful country. Nigeria is still a fragile nation.
“What will happen if Southern politicians decide to also form the idea of uniting them and making a position that this is their stand? There will be no Nigeria.
“So, they [Northerners] in the interest of the unity of the country and the future of the country, sacrifice their own personal ambitions, at least for 2027 and North will have the moral right to ask for power after the second term of this administration if a southerner takes over power, even if it not Tinubu.
“This desperation for power will not augur well with the region and for the unity and collective peace of our country as a nation.
“They should know that they had the opportunity to address all the problems of the bridging when they failed.
“North wasted eight years in power and did nothing for the region and did nothing for the people and left the region worse than it met it in 2015.
“This is not the time we should key into policies and programmes that will benefit our people.”
