Tinubu Links APC By-Election Victories To Confidence In Reforms

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has congratulated the winners of the by-elections held over the weekend in five constituencies across Gombe, Kano, Bauchi and Delta states.

All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates won four of the five seats, while the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) secured one.

The successful APC candidates are Kallamu MaiJama’a, Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency in Gombe State; Husseini Datti, Dawakin Kudu State Constituency in Kano State; Okolosi Ator, Udu State Constituency in Delta State; and Yakubu Ali, Disina State Constituency in Bauchi State. Adamu Yakubu of the APM won the Sakwa State Constituency seat in Bauchi State.

In a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the President said the victories recorded by APC candidates once again demonstrate the confidence Nigerians repose in the party’s capacity to govern effectively and deliver shared prosperity.

“I am encouraged by the support Nigerians at the grassroots continue to show for our party and for the difficult but necessary reforms our administration has implemented over the past three years.

“I urge Nigerians to remain steadfast and not be swayed by political opportunism. The benefits of these reforms will become increasingly evident as we enter the next phase of our programme,” President Tinubu said.

Tinubu urged the winners to justify the confidence their constituents have placed in them through diligent and effective representation.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, described the APC’s victories in four of the five bye-elections as significant ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Keyamo said the spread of the APC’s victories across the three regions was very significant going into the 2027 general elections.

He also referred to the constitutional requirement for a presidential candidate to secure at least 25 per cent of the votes in two-thirds of the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

But the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has dismissed the APC victory in four out of five by-elections, saying the results are not sufficient to guarantee victory for the ruling party in 2027.

Reacting to the polls, SDP National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, said the more important contest was the Osun governorship by-election which the APC lost despite intimidation and deployment of federal might, stressing that the Osun experience will be replicated in 2027.

“The electoral ‘successes’ being celebrated by the APC in the isolated by-elections are not in any way sufficient yardsticks to determine an assured victory path for the ruling party in 2027, particularly considering the more important Osun governorship, which it lost,” he said.

On Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo’s claim that the by-elections signpost 2027, Aiyenigba said it amounts to self-delusion for the administration to think the next election is already decided given the worsening insecurity, poverty and poor state of the economy.

“It is early in the day for Keyamo to be chest-beating about what the outcome of 2027 would be. Nigerians will ultimately decide the outcome, not press statements, wishful thinking, or propaganda of government appointees seeking to keep their jobs,” he added.