Elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakasai has said there is currently no politician with a stronger chance of defeating President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yakasai made the remark during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, noting that discussions around northern support for any candidate remain speculative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t heard anybody making any proposition about the 2027 presidential election from Arewa Consultative Forum,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat is tagged the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders Forum\u2019s position is mere individual opinions, because all sections of the north have not taken a stand on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yakasai, a key figure in northern political affairs, stated that there has been no formal decision or declaration from the region regarding the 2027 polls. He added that until northern leaders meet to deliberate and agree on a candidate, any claim of consensus should be viewed as personal views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting on President Tinubu\u2019s political position, Yakasai said the president appears to retain significant support within the ruling party and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Nigeria today, Bola Tinubu is the president. He has his ministers and governors who are backing him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho 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?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yakasai noted that some governors from opposition parties continue to support the president, a development he said could shape the outcome of the 2027 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe should all wait and see if the picture will change drastically, otherwise for now, the odds are in his (Tinubu\u2019s) favour because I have not seen anything that will prevent him from winning the next election,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He emphasized that Tinubu has not alienated the northern region. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t done anything against the north in my understanding and the north alone cannot decide who becomes the president of the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yakasai also pointed to divisions within major opposition parties, saying internal conflicts have weakened their standing ahead of the next general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On governance and political values, Yakasai advised political actors to focus on policies and long-term national goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur 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,\u201d he said. \u201cLet them envision the way they want the country to be and not targeting to be ministers, governors and president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He warned against ethnic and religious politics, saying such practices have slowed national development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he approaches his 100th birthday in December, Yakasai attributed his long life to both divine favour and family history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are more than 80 and still expanding. I give glory to God for these,\u201d he said, noting that his father lived to 107 years, while his mother also lived close to 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakasai has said there is currently no politician with a stronger chance of defeating President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. Yakasai made the remark during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, noting that discussions around northern support for any candidate remain speculative. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard anybody making any proposition about the 2027 presidential election from Arewa Consultative Forum,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is tagged the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders Forum\u2019s position is mere individual opinions, because all sections of the north have not taken a stand on this.\u201d Yakasai, a key figure in northern political affairs, stated that there has been no formal decision or declaration from the region regarding the 2027 polls. He added that until northern leaders meet to deliberate and agree on a candidate, any claim of consensus should be viewed as personal views. Commenting on President Tinubu\u2019s political position, Yakasai said the president appears to retain significant support within the ruling party and beyond. \u201cIn Nigeria today, Bola Tinubu is the president. He has his ministers and governors who are backing him,\u201d he said. \u201cWho 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?\u201d Yakasai noted that some governors from opposition parties continue to support the president, a development he said could shape the outcome of the 2027 election. \u201cWe should all wait and see if the picture will change drastically, otherwise for now, the odds are in his (Tinubu\u2019s) favour because I have not seen anything that will prevent him from winning the next election,\u201d he added. He emphasized that Tinubu has not alienated the northern region. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t done anything against the north in my understanding and the north alone cannot decide who becomes the president of the country,\u201d he said. Yakasai also pointed to divisions within major opposition parties, saying internal conflicts have weakened their standing ahead of the next general election. On governance and political values, Yakasai advised political actors to focus on policies and long-term national goals. \u201cOur 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,\u201d he said. \u201cLet them envision the way they want the country to be and not targeting to be ministers, governors and president.\u201d He warned against ethnic and religious politics, saying such practices have slowed national development. “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,\u201d he said. As he approaches his 100th birthday in December, Yakasai attributed his long life to both divine favour and family history. \u201cMy children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are more than 80 and still expanding. I give glory to God for these,\u201d he said, noting that his father lived to 107 years, while his mother also lived close to 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25296,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25294\/revisions\/25296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}