A political advocacy group, the North Central Agenda (NCA), has endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term in office, declaring that his re-election in the North Central geopolitical zone is already assured owing to what it described as the administration’s developmental strides across the region.
The declaration came as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, said the Tinubu administration is laying the groundwork for Nigeria’s long-term economic prosperity through far-reaching reforms and strategic infrastructure projects.
The endorsement was made during a one-day conference on the development of the North Central region under the Renewed Hope Agenda, attended by delegates from Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Addressing participants at the event in Abuja, the Convener of the North Central Agenda, Dr. Ene Lilian Ogbole, said the current administration had reversed years of neglect by implementing policies and projects that were transforming the region.
She recalled that before President Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, the North Central was weighed down by poor infrastructure and worsening insecurity.
“However, since assuming office on the 29th of May, 2023, President Tinubu has demonstrated courage in making difficult decisions aimed at securing the region’s long-term all-round prosperity,” Ogbole stated. “For the people of the North Central region, these efforts have brought renewed hope and visible progress.”
According to her, the administration has invested significantly in agriculture, security, education and transportation infrastructure across the zone.
She listed several ongoing road projects, including the Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue–Kogi–Nasarawa–Abuja Super Highway, the Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway covering Niger and Kwara sections, the Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Maiduguri Highway, the Suleja–Minna Dual Carriageway, as well as the Lokoja–Okene Dualisation and the Makurdi–Aliade–Otukpo Road.
Ogbole also praised the government’s interventions in the education sector, particularly increased funding through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and financial support to students under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). She added that the administration had effectively “halted the ‘strike regime’ which previously disrupted academic activities.”
On security and agriculture, she said intensified military operations against banditry and kidnapping had enabled farmers to return to their farms while businesses had resumed operations in affected communities.
Describing the North Central as a decisive voting bloc since 1999, Ogbole argued that the distribution of federal projects had reshaped public perception of the current administration.
“The fair and judicious spread of capital projects to all the geopolitical zones by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has changed the narratives from negative to positive, from neglect to recognition… and now to socio-economic structural and infrastructural transformation of the entire North Central zone,” she remarked.
She pledged that the organisation would embark on an extensive mobilisation campaign across the region ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Consequently, we are pledging to mobilise massively like never before across the entire North Central states to support the reelection of the President that has brought us from doom to the dawn of a new era,” Ogbole said.
“For us as the mouthpiece of the North Central people, this reelection is a done deal as we will stop at nothing within the confines of the law to ensure that his victory is secured.”
Representing the SGF at the conference, his Senior Assistant (Technical), Prof. Babatunde Bolaji Benard, said President Tinubu had demonstrated courage by embarking on reforms designed to secure the country’s future, even if they require time before yielding full benefits.
He compared the ongoing economic reforms to cooking beans, explaining that patience was necessary before meaningful results could be achieved.
“The President is a trailblazer. He is taking decisions that may not produce instant results, but they are the kind of reforms that will secure Nigeria’s future,” he said.
Benard identified the Student Loan Scheme as one of the administration’s major achievements, noting that while previous political leaders’ children benefited from similar schemes abroad, the current government had extended such opportunities to Nigerian students at home.
He also highlighted the administration’s commitment to infrastructure, particularly the ongoing highway projects across the country.
Speaking on the Calabar-Abuja highway corridor, Benard noted that although the project was conceived in 1958, it had remained largely unrealised until the present administration.
“How do you develop a country without critical infrastructure?” he asked. “What President Tinubu is doing today is laying the foundation for economic growth.”
He further explained that the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway would incorporate 32 dams capable of boosting irrigation, agriculture, water supply and other economic activities.
“Think about what we can do with those dams. They are not just roads; they are economic assets that will transform communities and create wealth,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to support leaders committed to building enduring infrastructure rather than those offering temporary financial incentives.
“We should leave those who give us peanuts and keep us in poverty. We should support the man who is digging up the ground and creating the conditions for Nigeria to blossom,” he added.
In his goodwill message, APC chieftain from Benue State, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, commended President Tinubu for strengthening security in the state, executing development projects and working closely with Governor Hyacinth Alia.
According to him, President Tinubu’s re-election in Benue State in 2027 is a walkover.
Meanwhile, supporters of President Tinubu dismissed renewed criticism of the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket by former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, insisting that Nigerians had already resolved the issue during the 2023 election.
Kwankwaso had maintained in an interview that the Muslim-Muslim ticket would remain a major issue in the next presidential election.
Responding after the conference, Director-General of the Tinubu Support Group (TSG), Dr. Umar Tanko Yakasai, argued that the outcome of the 2023 election had effectively settled the debate.
“In the 2023 general election, many people thought the Muslim-Muslim ticket would stop Tinubu. He won.
“Today, the North Central has become one of the major beneficiaries of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. INEC is headed by someone from the North Central, the APC National Chairman is from the North Central, key security institutions are headed by people from the North Central, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is also from the zone.
“You cannot talk about religion without talking about the North Central because they constitute a significant proportion of Christians in Northern Nigeria. They have moved from marginalisation to integration and from exclusion to inclusion.
“Kwankwaso should know better. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has proven that he is President for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe or religion. If he were President only for Muslims, Kwankwaso himself would not have accepted to serve as running mate to a Christian presidential candidate,” he said.
Yakasai also dismissed claims that the Tinubu administration had concentrated federal appointments in the South-West, insisting that appointments reflected national balance.
He cited the appointment of Dr. Lilian Ene Ogbole as Commissioner in the National Wages Commission and the number of federal appointees from Kano State as examples of equitable distribution.
“The President has spread his appointments across all tribes, all regions and all religions. It is the opposition that wants to shift attention from the successes of this administration to issues that have already been settled by Nigerians,” he added.
