Why North, South-west should vote massively for Tinubu in 2027 — Reno Omokri

Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has urged both the North and South-west to remain loyal to President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections, stressing that the regions have much to gain by supporting his re-election bid.

In a statement titled “Why the North and South-west Should Not Be Deceived into Turning Against President Tinubu”, Omokri emphasised that both regions would benefit from backing Tinubu’s second term.

He drew parallels with the North’s support for former President Muhammadu Buhari despite what he described as poor performance.

“I remind the people of the Southwest that even when it was clear to the most biased and bigoted person that General Buhari had performed woefully, and had reduced the $510 billion economy he inherited from President Jonathan to less than half of that in 2019, Northern Nigeria did not abandon him.

“They massively voted for him in 2019.

“Not only did Arewa not abandon him, but the Lukumi Yoruba of the Southwest proved to be dependable allies of the late Buhari.

“The Southwest gave 50% of their vote to General Buhari as against their in law, who was his main challenger.

“Additionally, Buhari won in Lagos with 53% of the vote. He also won in every Southwestern state except Ondo and Oyo.”

Omokri questioned why the South-west would consider turning against Tinubu when, according to him, the president has expanded the country’s economy.

“With this in mind, the people of the Southwest should think hard and long. Then, they should ask themselves this question:

“If the North did not abandon Buhari, who reduced Nigeria’s GDP by more than 50%, why should they forsake President Bola Tinubu, who has expanded Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product from a ₦269.29 trillion economy on May 29, 2023, when Asiwaju became President, to ₦372.8 trillion today?”

According to him, Nigeria under Tinubu is “progressing well,” and Northern Nigeria should reciprocate the loyalty shown to the North by the South-west during Buhari’s administration.

“This is especially when Arewa takes cognisance of the fact that more than 60% of President Tinubu’s student loan beneficiaries are from the North.

“This is even as some of the most expensive projects being undertaken by the Tinubu administration are in Northern Nigeria,” Omokri said, listing projects such as the ₦13 trillion Illela-Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline valued at ₦4.5 trillion, the Kano-Kaduna rail line at ₦2 trillion, the Trans-Saharan Road at ₦1.2 trillion, the Kaduna Light Rail Project at ₦100 billion, and the ₦824 billion Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina Road.

He also noted the dominance of northerners in security leadership.

“Not counting the Chief of Defence Staff, who is a Northerner, there are twenty Military, Security, Police and Law Enforcement agencies in Nigeria. And twenty-one men head these agencies. Out of those twenty-one, only five bodies are headed by the Southwest. The bulk of that number rightfully goes to the Nort