Senator Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna congressman, has cautioned northern leaders to abandon their plans to topple President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Sani warned that such a move could damage the country’s unity.
Sani delivered the warning during an appearance with Arise Television.
Instead of attempting to obtain greater political power, the former legislator advised northern leaders to participate in the Tinubu administration’s initiatives and programmes that will benefit Nigeria’s northern region.
Sani said, “There is evidence of the rallying of forces. A regrouping of forces political from the north is trying to use former President Buhari as a rallying point to evict the government of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.
“And they hope to resurrect his political chance in the house of the masses and portray the government as one that has been undermining the North and one that has not been living up to its campaign promises to the region, being that it has its highest votes from there.
“And I must warn that attempts to do that can create a serious problem for our country.
“Buhari was in power for eight years, and there has never been any serious southerner that challenged his own government in terms of trying to remove him from office.
“And secondly, we should know that before you think of power, we should 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 themselves and making a position that this is their stand? There will be no Nigeria.
“So, they should, in the interest of the unity of the country and the future of the country, sacrifice their personal ambition at least for 2027.
“And the North will have the moral right to ask for power after the second term of this administration.”
“This desperation for power will not go well for the region or for the unity and collective peace of our country as a nation,” he added.
Sani also emphasised the necessity for Northern leaders to address regional issues. Remember that northern Nigeria has been dealing with instability and poverty, among other issues.
Sani said, “It’s a historical fact that people from the North have been in political power for a longer time. And that power was an opportunity for them to use it to develop the region, to address the problems of insecurity, education, underdevelopment, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
“But unfortunately, that power that ought to have been used that way was misused.
“It (the Northern Region) is ahead in poverty index, lags behind in industry, and in many aspects of development.
“It’s a serious concern because part of the problem we are facing in the North today can be rooted in a history of bad governance, a history of corruption, a history of insensitive leaders, and a history of people who ought to have used power to develop their own part of the country, which they have not been able to do.
“So, power has not been of use to Northern Nigeria for the period it has lasted.
“For the fact that the North has been behind in a number of indices of development, there should have been a concerted effort in terms of bringing development to that part of the country.
“But look at what we are having now. In the last eight years before the coming of this administration, in 2015, there was so much hope. There was so much belief and faith that the leadership that took over at that time would address these fundamental issues, but it did not.
“So, power should be of use to the masses. In the North, power should address their poverty and insecurity. It should address issues of development and not be used to enrich an insignificant few who are simply parasitic on the economy of the country.”
Meanwhile, Sani mentioned that the Tinubu administration should implement restructuring, which will provide a structural chance for Nigerians to address underdevelopment issues.
Sani stressed that it would enable the North to “come back home and see what it can do with its resources to address the problem that it has been facing for more than a decade or two.”
