Vice President Kashim Shettima has intensified political consultations ahead of the 2027 presidential election, urging northern leaders and residents to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election, insisting the region has gained significantly from the current administration and stands to benefit even more in a second term.
Shettima made the appeal on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving members of Arewa for Tinubu (A4A), a northern political group campaigning for President Tinubu’s re-election.
He said the North should remain united behind the President because the administration has continued to invest in agriculture, infrastructure and other programmes that directly affect the lives of ordinary people.
“The North has no reason to be scared of the re-election of President Tinubu,” the Vice President said.
“Let’s unite as a people and work for the development of our region and the progress of our people through the re-election of this administration. We are benefiting and we stand to benefit more from this government in many ways.”
Highlighting what he described as one of the administration’s biggest interventions, Shettima said the Bank of Agriculture has released N450 billion to 700,000 smallholder farmers across Nigeria, with about 70 per cent of the beneficiaries coming from the North.
“The present administration is working towards completing landmark and ground breaking projects in parts of the country. I can assure you that the president loves the north and the president will work for the north,” he added.
The Vice President urged members of the group to deepen mobilisation at the grassroots by reaching communities, wards and local government areas across the region ahead of the 2027 polls.
Director-General of Arewa for Asiwaju and former Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru, said the group would expand consultations with Muslim and Christian religious leaders and other influential Nigerians to build support for the Tinubu/Shettima ticket.
“We want to focus very well on the contacts at the grassroots – the local government areas and the wards,” Badaru said.
Chairman of the group’s Board of Trustees and former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, said the organisation had already begun consultations with northern governors and key stakeholders as part of preparations for the next election.
He disclosed that the group would soon open a permanent secretariat to coordinate its activities and formally invited the Vice President to commission the office complex.
The meeting was attended by several former governors, senior government officials and political leaders, underscoring growing political activities as preparations for the 2027 general election gather momentum.