Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna has challenged politicians confident of defeating President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to test their popularity in the 2027 elections.

 

Speaking in an interview with TVC News on Monday, Sani expressed surprise that some founding members of the ruling party were making critical remarks about Tinubu’s administration.

 

“I can tell you as a member of APC, we have been engaging ourselves; I cannot say we are perfect— but I can say that most of the people that are making the comments (against Tinubu’s administration) are also members of our own party,” the Kaduna governor said.

 

“Most of them are foundation members of APC from the beginning and that is the reason why I was really surprised when I heard the coalition of politicians coming together at this critical time to make most of those comments they made.

 

“I can say it was really unfortunate because some of them were even calling for people to come out and take laws into their hands, oppose the government in a way that I feel is undemocratic.

 

“Of course, I also want to make it clear here that if you ask me, when a democratic dispensation, and we have virtually just two and a half years to the next election, and any politician who feels he is popular or he can defeat Bola Ahmed Tinubu or APC —I think they need to go and work very hard and present themselves in the next election, which will be 2027.

 

“There is still time, but they can go back to the drawing board and mobilise and come out. But what I can say here is that as someone who is a governor, I can say that the current government under Bola Ahmed Tinubu have done extremely well.”

 

Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transporation, and Nasir el-Rufai, ex-governor of Kaduna, recently made headlines with their comments at a conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria.

 

El-Rufai said the ruling APC has abandoned its founding principles and is promoting poor leadership.

 

He subsequently tweeted that he would still criticise the APC even if he was in Tinubu’s government.

 

On his part, Amaechi said Tinubu and the political class would not cede power to the younger generation without a fight.

 

The presidency, along with Bello Matawalle, the minister of state for defence, subsequently responded sharply to the criticisms from both politicians.