The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Forum in the North-Central, Saleh Zazzaga, speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the region’s political interest, opposition realignment against President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, internal party threats, and the future of Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of 2027
Some opposition elements have claimed that Professor Nentawe Yilwatda’s emergence as the APC National Chairman threatens the credibility of the upcoming general election because he is a former Resident Electoral Commissioner. Isn’t this concern legitimate?
No, the man resigned from the position in 2022. He contested for the Plateau State governorship under the platform of All Progressives Congress and lost the election. But based on our calculations, he is the best to lead our party to victory in 2027. More so, you can’t predict the outcome of the next election based on our chairman’s past performance. This is because a lot of people play religion politics against him at the last election. But this won’t happen in 2027.
Recently, the All Nigeria Peoples Party bloc in the APC threatened to dump your party if President Bola Tinubu drops Vice President Kashim Shettima and fails to pick someone else from their bloc. What is your take on this?
There is no person or group of people that will pull out of the APC that will make President Tinubu lose the 2027 election. That will not even happen because he has a strong relationship with Shettima and the rest. The ANPP people are only trying to create a gap between the President and the VP. But even if that happens, the President will still have his lead in the 2027 election. We have a feeling that those who called the press conference are not even leaders of the ANPP bloc. So, we can’t take them seriously. More so, even if the President decides to change the VP, it’s for the interest of the APC. If you look at the last election, the President closely lost in Borno State. The President lost the entire North-East. So, if calculation will lead to changing the VP, nothing will happen.
Are you saying the ANPP leaders are being sponsored to cause issues between Tinubu and the VP?
Yes, exactly and they know their sponsors. They just want to create issues where there is none. This is because as we speak, there has been no official statement that President Tinubu is going to change Shettima. So those agitating should wait and see. If the President will change Shettima, he will just issue a statement that will convince everybody.
You said that going by calculations President Tinubu can decide to drop Shettima because in the last election, he did not win the North-East. Will that be a fair ground to drop the VP?
If calculation gives us that alternative to change Shettima, why not? At least, it is for the interest of winning the 2027 election. Mind you, we are not talking of regional interest. We are only calculating how to win the 2027 election. We will do our mathematics to know what is going to happen in the next election. If going with Shettima will give us victory, why should we change him? We will simply manage him and continue with him. But if we do our calculations and find that we are not going to win the 2027 election that way, we will have no alternative than to change him.
Do you think Shettima has performed well enough to make the APC win his region in the next election should the President decide to run with him?
The VP has tried his best. It is just the ANPP people who are trying to strain his relationship with the President, all in a bid to gratify their own interests and those of the opposition parties. They are just trying to create problem between the two leaders.
Are you saying those people are likely being sponsored by the African Democratic Congress?
No, opposition parties. It might not be only the ADC because we do not take the party seriously. We believe that very soon the party (ADC) will scatter because it is being programmed to fulfill the interests of a particular person. So, if that person doesn’t have his way, some of the people will fall out and the party will not be the same.
Whose interests are you talking about?
The party is running for the interests of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, from all indications. If you see the kind of people in the party, all of them are Atiku’s supporters. So, if they don’t give Atiku the presidential ticket, the party will crash. I’m very, very sure. You will just wait and see. Time shall tell.
The North Central seems to be agitating for the vice-presidential slot under President Bola Tinubu in 2027. How true is this?
No, I kicked against that. You know, we cannot just agitate for something of four years. If we are to bring something from the North Central, we need somebody that will spend eight years, not four years. Automatically, if they substitute Kashim Shettima with someone from North Central, the person is going to be there for only four years. I am against that agitation. Let Tinubu and Shettima finish their term with anybody from any region, not from North Central. If they are going to zone, let them zone the presidency to the North Central, not the vice presidency.
So you feel it is better they should zone the presidency to your region and not the vice presidency?
Yes, after Tinubu’s second term. This is because of all the regions, we (North-Central) and South-East, are the only ones that haven’t produced a president or vice president since the beginning of current democratic dispensation. And we have contributed a lot. In the last general election, we gave APC five governors (Nasarawa, Niger, Benue, Kogi, and Kwara). No other zone produced five governors for the APC in 2023. We gave President Bola Tinubu the third highest number of votes after South-West and North-West. Secondly, among all the zones, we had the highest number of governors, senators, Reps, and House of Assembly members.
Recently, the New Nigeria People’s Party and the presidency have been locked in a verbal war over alleged marginalisation of northern Nigeria. Will you say President Tinubu’s administration has truly been fair to the North?
Yes, 100 per cent. This is because insecurity, whose rate used to be very high is 30 per cent now. The economy of the country is also developing every day. If not because of Tinubu, we don’t even know what would have happened in the country. So, I believe the President has really tried in the area of security. He has also sited some education and health infrastructure in the North. He has done a lot for us.
The North seems divided over President Tinubu’s re-election. Do you believe the President deserves a second term based on current state of the country?
If you look at the people leading the opposition coalition, you will see that it is only North Central that hasn’t brought anybody forward to contest against the president, because we believe in his leadership. We see the massive achievements. There used to be high rate of insecurity before, but it is over now.
But dozens were killed in Benue and Plateau in recent months?
You cannot stop all like that. But the President is trying. There is a lot of effort he is putting on the ground to end insecurity in our zone. So, we cannot challenge that. Before, our natives could not access their own farms. But now, some of them are already in their farms, due to his effort. So, we believe that with the current effort he is putting in place, in the next two years, insecurity will end in our region.
Since being adopted by opposition coalition, the African Democratic Congress has been gaining momentum across the country, attracting members in the Peoples Democratic Party and the APC. Don’t you think this may likely pose a significant threat to President Tinubu’s re-election?
No. They are going nowhere. They are an association of past politicians. They are not even recent politicians. They cannot go anywhere. All those people are power hungry. All of them have served in various capacities. We know how they play. So, the masses are not going to support them. The people still trust President Tinubu’s leadership.
Are you saying the coalition leaders do not have support base. What of Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna State governor?
Yes, if you call El-Rufai, can you name three or four more people?
What about former Vice President Atiku Abubakar?
No. That person doesn’t have any value. When he was vice president of this country, there was no evidence in his village. We know all their records.
What about Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the Obidient Movement?
Peter Obi won’t get the kind of support he had in the last election because they are not going to make him their candidate. They will overpower him and won’t give him the ticket. Even if they give him the ticket, in the last election, how many votes did Obi have in Anambra State?
He had over 580,000 votes in Anambra State out of 624,612 total vote cast? So you don’t still think he is a force to reckon with?
No. Go and check again. The records are there. All I know is they are going nowhere.
What if ADC eventually picks Obi as its standard-bearer?
If they finally pick Obi, they know they are not going to win. All the northerners will not vote for him. None of them will support him. We know their politics.
But some of them voted for him in the last election. He won Nasarawa State and the Federal Capital Territory?
And which state again? You only mentioned one, but the North has 19 states.
Considering that segments of the PDP, and even parts of the APC are folding into the ADC, alongside the deepening alliances of Atiku and El-Rufai, don’t you think if Obi clinches the party’s ticket, he would pose a formidable challenge to Tinubu?
No. The politics of northern Nigeria is different. Immediately Obi becomes the candidate of ADC in the forthcoming election, just believe me, that is the end of the ADC movement.
Are you saying giving Obi the ticket would sink the ADC?
Yes, Obi or Atiku. If any of them gets the ADC ticket, that is the end of the party. Though Obi will win some votes, he is not going to win many states. I believe President Tinubu’s performance will overcome all of them.
Do you see governors from PDP and even APC eventually joining the ADC-led coalition as the 2027 presidential race hots up?
No, it’s not going to be possible. Instead of them joining ADC, they will rather come to APC. This is because the governors are in the best position to know President Tinubu’s achievements. So, they cannot go to any ADC. Instead, they will join the APC. Since the creation of this country, we’ve never had a president that touched the lives of the common man like Tinubu.
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