2027: North Will Back Candidate Based on Competence, Not Ethnicity – Ex-SGF

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has said the North will support any presidential candidate in 2027 who understands the region’s challenges, regardless of their ethnic or political background.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Lawal disclosed that a new bloc of northern politicians, under the Nigerian People’s Consultative Political Forum (North), has resolved to vote as a united front to achieve its goals.

“We had a group of people who started meeting with like minds, asking how we should approach this, what the issues are. We call this the Nigerian People’s Consultative Political Forum, North, in which almost every significant northern politician who is not in government attends our meetings.

“The idea is that we get together and bring unity to this north. There is disunity among us, and we analyse what this disunity means, what causes it, and how we can ameliorate it. So, we agreed that we must vote as a bloc. If we don’t vote as a bloc, we will not be able to achieve our goals,” he said.

Lawal, who supported Labour Party’s Peter Obi in 2023, hinted that his 2027 choice might change.

“Things have changed. The parameters we used to evaluate our candidate in 2023 are going to be different this time. Things have moved on, so we’ll see when we get there. We’ll see how it goes,” he said.

While insisting Obi was the “true winner” of the 2023 presidential election, Lawal stressed that the North’s next political move would focus on competence over ethnicity.

“Now, whoever eventually emerges will only support somebody who understands the problems facing the north and will present them to him, whether the person is a northerner or a southerner, even if he’s from heaven,” he said.

He added that the forum agreed to rally under a single political party, identifying the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the preferred platform.

“Eventually, we just decided that we can only pursue this if we are in one solid political party. And we all agree this solid political party can only be the ADC. At the national level, quite a lot of the most significant ones are Amaechi, Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar. I’m sure there are others there who have not yet thrown in the towel,” he said.

Lawal maintained that the decision on who should lead Nigeria in 2027 should transcend partisan loyalty and ethnic sentiment.

Titilope Adako

Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.

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