In an exclusive interview with The Sun in Abuja, Senator Shehu Sani, a prominent human rights advocate and public commentator, has shared insights into recent political movements within Northern Nigeria.
He focused particularly on the recent Sallah homage paid by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to former President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside other Northern elites.
Responding to questions about the implications of these visits, Senator Sani underlined the potential collaboration between Governor Nasir El-Rufai and Atiku Abubakar.
He highlighted the strategic intent of Northern leaders to unify their ranks and seek alliances beyond the Southwest, aiming to diminish the influence of prominent political figures like Bola Tinubu.
Senator Sani underlined the electoral importance of Northern votes, noting that huge portion of Tinubu's electoral support originates from Northern Nigeria.
He suggested that Northern leaders are strategizing to redirect these votes in future elections.
Key issues such as the relocation of CBN offices to Lagos, appointments favoring the Southwest, and unresolved insecurity in Northern regions are poised to feature prominently in their campaign narrative for 2027.
"Well, I don’t know whether they are working together or not, but I know that there will be a lot of realignment of forces and the ace, the card that will be played by the North is that of bringing all northerners together and then, getting an alliance with a section of the country other than the Southwest and then, see how that can garner votes to remove Tinubu out of power because in the equation of the North, out of the eight million votes which Tinubu has gotten, five million comes from Northern Nigeria."
"So, they want to see how they can pull off these votes from him and there are a lot of issues which they are going to put forward in the build-up to the 2027 campaign. And they are going to use so many issues like the shifting of the CBN offices to Lagos; like the issues of appointments of many people from the South-western part of Nigeria; like the issue of insecurity which has not been solved in Northern part of Nigeria; these are all fundamental issues which they are going to take very seriously," he said.