…'We Can Deliver 8m Northern Votes For Tinubu in 2027'…
By Samuel Luka, Bauchi
The Arewa Yoruba Youth Development Initiative has said it can deliver 8 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the North in 2027, but decried neglect by the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
National coordinator of the group, Engr. Salman Ajani Mudashiru, disclosed this on Saturday in Bauchi, gave the Tinubu Campaign Council and the APC till end of October to engage the group or risk losing its support.
Mudashiru said if nothing tangible comes from the Presidency by the end of the month, the group will convene an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting to review its position and consider an alternative candidate.
"We are calling on the Presidency and the APC to act by the end of this month, or we will have no other option than to convene an emergency NEC meeting and take a decision. We are not backing down on our support for him, but we will look for an alternative person who is ready to embrace us and wipe our tears," he said.
He said the group, formerly known as Arewa Youth Network Initiative, is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and operates in 13 Northern states with headquarters at Al-Kabir Plaza, Federal Low-Cost, Bauchi.
According to him, members funded activities from personal resources, including distribution of relief items to vulnerable women and orphans, to ensure Tinubu's victory in 2023, but have not received recognition since then.
He said the group wrote to the City Boy Movement and APC National Chairman, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, both, he said, acknowledged receipt but are yet to engage the group, despite its registration as a support group through the link provided by the City Boy Movement.
He dismissed insinuations that the group is sponsored by politicians.
"Nobody is sponsoring us. I personally sold a plot of land to fund the movement and empower less privileged people in the name of the President. We use the car of our Director of Finance to travel across states," Mudashiru said.
He said mobilisation is not limited to Yoruba voters, noting that many members have Northern wives, were born in the North and have wide community networks.
"We are not only engaging Yoruba people; we are engaging every Nigerian. My own wife is a Northerner. Even within my own family, I can deliver more than 500 to 1,000 votes for Tinubu. By the grace of God, we can bring eight million votes to the table in the North," he said.
Mudashiru lamented that despite President Tinubu, his son Seyi Tinubu, and the First Lady being of Yoruba origin, Yorubas in the North have not benefited sufficiently.
"Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Yoruba man, Seyi Tinubu is a Yoruba man, and the First Lady is Yoruba. We see what Seyi Tinubu is doing with other groups in the North. Is it that they don't care about Yoruba people in the North, or what?" he queried.
He said members faced risks campaigning for Tinubu in parts of the North where the President encountered resistance, recalling an incident where they had to flee a local government area.
He clarified that no final decision has been taken to withdraw support.
"I did not say we are going to dump President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is the outcome of the NEC meeting that will determine our next line of action," he said.
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