ACF, MBF Fault Yilwatda On 70% Northern Votes For Tinubu Claim

The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) have disagreed with the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, over his prediction that President Bola Tinubu will get 70 percent of northern votes in the 2027 election.

While the ACF said the APC National Chairman was expressing a laughable personal opinion, the MBF described it as wishful thinking.

Yilwatda made the prediction on Saturday at the commissioning of the Arewa for Asiwaju secretariat in Abuja, where he urged people in the region to support Tinubu’s re-election bid, citing infrastructure projects, appointments and other initiatives of the President’s administration.

The APC chairman listed road projects across northern states, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, irrigation dams, railway projects, healthcare initiatives and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund among the interventions he said should encourage the North to support Tinubu for a second term.

Reacting to Prof. Yilwatda’s prediction, ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad Baba, told LEADERSHIP that it was disappointing for the APC National Chairman to make such a claim when votes have not been cast.

Dismissing the prediction, Muhammad Baba said, “The prediction by the chairman is very disappointing. It reinforces our view that the political office holders currently in the country are not prepared to allow democracy to grow or to thrive.

“One, he is not the voters. The voters, as you know, are those who will cast their votes, unless, of course, it is an assurance and information that they will rig the election. There is no way, and it doesn’t make sense, that you can predict votes that have not been cast. And we are about 90 days away from the elections. So, at best, I think he is just expressing a personal opinion. At worst, they are trying to sell a dummy to the president that he is going to win.”

He added, “The national chairman is not the voter. So, I think it’s something to be laughed at. It’s something to dismiss. I hope for his sake, he will not one day live to regret that statement. But it is certainly laughable. And we don’t share the opinion at all. So it’s not a prophecy. It’s a wish, and unless there is some intention behind it, we will just laugh at it as another campaign slogan and that’s all.

“In fact, I’m surprised if it’s a campaign slogan. It is like me telling you that the president will not win 25 percent at all — you may laugh because I am not the voter. So I think it’s the same thing. Those who think he will score 70 percent are deceiving themselves, just as those who think he will not win 10 percent are also just expressing opinions. So, I mean, it is nothing to worry about. I’m sure it’s a personal opinion and it’s allowed under the Constitution. That’s all I can say for now,” the ACF spokesperson said.