North owes Tinubu re-election debt – Jigawa speaker

File photo: Jigawa State House of Assembly Speaker, Haruna Dangyatin

The Jigawa State House of Assembly Speaker, Haruna Dangyatin, has said the North, particularly the Hausa/Fulani, owe President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a debt of re-election in 2027.

The Speaker stated this while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the pre-rally consultative gathering of stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress from the Jigawa Southwest Senatorial District, held in Jahun on Sunday.

Arewa PUNCH gathered that the Jigawa Southwest Senatorial District is considered a stronghold of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, which won the Senate seat, two of the five House of Representatives seats and two State Assembly seats in the 2023 elections.

According to him, the meeting was convened to formally introduce all APC candidates vying for the various offices for the 2027 elections to the electorates at polling unit, ward and local government levels.

Dangyatin also listed the offices to include: the office of the President to the Governor, Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly at the national, state and council levels

The Speaker pointed out that the massive turnout at the gathering indicated that the electorate is solidly behind the APC and is happy with the President and Governor Umar Namadi.

While speaking on the sidelines of the event, Dangyatin said, “The region has no reason not to support President Tinubu’s second-term bid, considering the role he played in the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.”

He said the Hausa/Fulani should be grateful to President Tinubu for making Buhari president after several failed attempts.

“We’re happy with what Mr President has done for northern Nigeria. We, Hausa/Fulani especially. The President has helped us because our father, our brother, the late President Muhammadu Buhari could not have become president without President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

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The lawmaker recalled that Buhari contested several times without success until his merger with Tinubu.

“You recall that he (Buhari) contested elections, not once, not twice, not three times, but when they merged with President Tinubu with the backing and all the resources of President Tinubu, Buhari won, did his first and second term.

“So, it’s a must that we have to support President Tinubu to win his second term too,” he declared.

On the loss suffered by the APC in the zone in 2023, the Speaker blamed it on internal crisis, stating that, “Even the last election which we lost, it was due to an internal issue that brought PDP at that time. But this time around, we can assure you that everything has been taken care of and I can tell you that this zone is squarely an APC zone.”

Reacting to complaints over Tinubu’s economic reforms, Dangyatin, who is the State Coordinator of the City Boy Movement, admitted that Nigerians are going through hardship but said it is temporary.

According to him, “You know that there are economic reforms in every country in the world, there must be hardship, but if the people are patient, that hardship will disappear and people will be better for it.”

He cited the drop in food prices as evidence that the reforms are working.

“To me, the hardship is just a matter of time because if you remember, during the tail end of Buhari’s tenure before the removal of oil subsidy, we were buying a bag of grains for almost N100,000, but today it is merely N30,000 or even less than that in some cases, so, I know definitely that will also go away,” he said.

He further assured Nigerians that the country will be better if Tinubu is re-elected in 2027.