2027: Arewa Elders Demand Scrutiny Of Tinubu, Other Presidential Hopefuls

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has urged President Bola Tinubu and other politicians seeking elective offices in 2027 to be prepared to account for their past and allow Nigerians to scrutinise their records.

The forum said voters should be able to examine the educational background, antecedents, integrity and personal history of candidates seeking to lead the country, particularly those aspiring to the presidency.

The ACF Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Baba, stated this on Tuesday while speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show.

Baba said the issue should go beyond whether a candidate possesses the required academic qualifications, arguing that voters should be able to establish the credibility and consistency of a politician’s entire personal history.

“If you are presenting yourself for election to the highest office in Nigeria, holding lives together, being the Commander-in-Chief, it is legitimate to ask questions,” he said.

He stressed that transparency should be central to the process of choosing Nigeria’s leaders.

“The certificate is not as important as the story itself. It has to be straight. It has to be consistent. If it is not, there is a problem,” Baba said.

While acknowledging that the 1999 Constitution does not expressly require presidential candidates to provide documentary evidence covering every stage of their educational history, he said this should not prevent Nigerians from asking questions about their backgrounds.

Baba compared Nigeria’s political system with countries where prospective leaders undergo extensive scrutiny and assessment before attaining the highest positions of authority.

He cited China as an example, saying political leaders typically rise through a structured leadership process in which their records are scrutinised over time.

According to him, Nigeria has yet to develop a similarly strong culture of political accountability because standards are often compromised by both the political system and voters.

“We are simply flexible in our demands for accountability. There are no standards, and there are no standards because we do not demand standards,” he said.

However, the ACF spokesman said Nigerians were ultimately more concerned about the impact of governance on their lives than academic certificates.

“What matters to them is the effect of good governance,” he said, citing healthcare, education, housing, transportation and family welfare as key concerns.

Baba therefore urged politicians preparing for the 2027 elections to be transparent about their backgrounds and provide voters with sufficient information to make informed choices.

The warning comes amid increasing political debates over the records, policies and campaign promises of major contenders ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

One of the major issues already generating political disagreement is the removal of petrol subsidy by the Tinubu administration and whether the policy should be retained, reversed or modified by the next government.

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, recently reaffirmed his support for subsidy removal but criticised the Federal Government over what he described as the mismanagement of funds generated from the policy.

Speaking at a panel session during the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Obi said subsidy removal was necessary but argued that the government should have provided alternatives to cushion its impact on Nigerians.

He also claimed that the Federal Government had reported receiving about N16 trillion from savings associated with subsidy removal and questioned how the funds had been utilised.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has pledged to reinstate petrol subsidy if elected, arguing that its removal under Tinubu has not delivered the expected benefits to Nigerians.

Tinubu has opposed any return to the subsidy regime, maintaining that it placed a heavy financial burden on government and contributed to fiscal pressures before his administration assumed office.

The subsidy debate is expected to remain a major issue in the 2027 presidential contest as political parties and candidates present competing economic policies to voters.