Former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, has stated that President Bola Tinubu will get his vote in 2027 only if he brings an end to the insecurity ravaging the North.
NEWSNGR reports that Bafarawa set the condition in an interview with FRI, a Hausa online platform.
The elder statesman said he was not seeking any personal benefit from the President, but simply wanted normal life restored in Sokoto and the rest of the region.
“My only condition for allowing my vote to go to President Tinubu is for him to ensure peace and allow full normalcy to return to my area and other Northern parts,” he said.
He made it clear that campaign funds held no attraction for him.
“Look, as far as I am concerned, I don’t want anything in the name of campaign money. What I want is for President Tinubu to do everything he can to ensure peace and allow markets, schools, farming and other livelihood activities to return to our communities. I assure him that I will vote for him,” Bafarawa stated.
The former governor argued that, with the powers and resources at his disposal, the President could make a difference quickly.
“As a leader who has power, money and security, three months or even one month is enough for him to change the insecurity narrative in the Northern region,” he said.
He lamented the impact of insecurity on education, farming and communities in the North.
“But it is unacceptable that today, our children cannot go to school. Don’t anybody who denies you education deny you life? Villagers cannot go to farms, and so many towns have been completely sacked. That is why, at this juncture, if Tinubu ensures peace, he is simply my candidate,” he said.
Bafarawa, who is not a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he met Tinubu only once since 2023, at a mosque.
He claimed that an individual the President asked to bring him to the Villa failed to do so and then blocked his phone lines.
The former governor also defended the appointment of former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, as Director-General of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, despite criticism over the security situation in Zamfara.
He said Yari, as a party member, had to abide by the President’s and the APC’s decision.
“So I don’t see anything wrong with Abdulaziz Yari accepting to be DG of the campaign for President Tinubu because he is doing a job he has been appointed to do. And don’t forget, it would be disrespectful for him to say no,” Bafarawa said.
He noted that Yari consulted widely before taking up the job and kept seeking advice afterwards, describing this as a mark of integrity.
