• Zamfara group rejects Yari-Sheriff alliance

Northern political heavyweights, including former governors, serving and former senators and other influential stakeholders, have concluded plans to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu‘s re-election bid in 2027.

The group, under the banner of Arewa for Asiwaju (A4A), is being structured as a northern political mobilisation platform with chapters across the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with a formal unveiling expected in Abuja in the coming days.

This comes as the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has urged northerners to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 to reciprocate his support for the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Yari made the call in Lagos on Monday when he led members of the PCC to the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, stating that Tinubu resisted the pressure to contest the 2019 presidential election.

When Buhari was seeking a second term, insisting that power should remain in the North.

However, a Zamfara State-based group, the Zamfara Good Leadership and Development Initiative (ZGLDI), rejected any political alliance between the former state governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, and former Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The group said it remained committed to the APC, President Tinubu and Yari’s political aspirations, but opposed to any political association between the former governor and Sheriff.

In a letter to Yari, signed by its National President, Zailani Gusau, the group said the position was based on concerns over Sheriff’s political history and public reputation, which it argued could affect public confidence in the APC and its leaders.

The A4A Board of Trustees will be chaired by former Kano State governor and former Minister of Education, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, with former Yobe State governor, Senator Ibrahim Geidam, and former Plateau State governor, Senator Simon Lalong, as deputy chairmen, among others.