Will You Stop All This Road Construction Because You Want to Return Subsidy? – Yilwatda Fires ADC

All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, has dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu had neglected the north.

He warned voters that victory for opposition presidential candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in the 2027 election could return the region to widespread poverty.

Naija News reports that Yilwatda spoke on Tuesday in Abuja while addressing State House of Assembly candidates who defected from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the APC from Jigawa, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara states.

He said proposals by opposition politicians to reverse some of President Bola Tinubu’s reforms, particularly the removal of fuel subsidy, would deprive the North of funds for infrastructure, agriculture and education.

Yilwatda also accused the opposition of using regional media, particularly Hausa-language radio programmes, to misrepresent the administration’s policies and performance.

“The opposition, especially the ADC, has been painting stories of what does not exist,” Yilwatda said, citing claims that Tinubu had neglected the North.

The APC chairman said ongoing federal road projects across the region demonstrated the administration’s commitment to northern development.

He listed the Abuja-Kano and Kano-Maiduguri roads, as well as projects covering Abuja-Lokoja-Benue, Akwanga-Jos, Kwara-Mokwa, Sokoto-Kebbi, Kano-Daura and Zaria-Danja.

He questioned how the opposition would fund its proposed return to fuel subsidy while sustaining such projects.

“The same thing they keep saying on the radio is that they will return the subsidy. I keep asking, how are they going to return the subsidy? You mean they will stop all this road construction because they want to return the subsidy?” Yilwatda asked.

He also linked increased federal allocations to improved finances of northern states, recalling that many states struggled to pay salaries and gratuities before Tinubu assumed office.

“I can also assure you that among the about 30 states that could not pay salaries in Nigeria, all the states in the North, none could pay salaries as of 2023 when President Tinubu took over,” he said.

Yilwatda urged the defectors and APC members to intensify mobilisation for Tinubu’s re-election.