2027: Atiku, Peter Obi Cannot Defeat Tinubu – Yari Explains Why

Former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has said African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) rival Peter Obi lack the political strength to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Yari, who is the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, argued that neither opposition figure has enough support across northern and southern Nigeria to win the presidency.

Naija News reports that the senator representing Zamfara West stated this on Friday while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.

According to Yari, winning the presidency requires a candidate to secure considerable support from both regions rather than rely heavily on one part of the country.

He argued that even a candidate with 80 per cent support in the South would struggle to win without a strong presence in the North.

The same, he said, applies to a candidate who enjoys widespread support in the North but lacks backing in the South.

Yari questioned whether Atiku could claim control of any state in southern Nigeria and whether Obi, whom he described as a former colleague, could make a similar claim about the North.

He said, “Can you say that the ADC candidate today in the southern part of the country can beat his chest and say he has control of one state in the south? And I don’t think Peter Obi, who used to be my colleague, can beat his chest.

“Can he say he has one state he can control in northern Nigeria? So this calculation shows us that even if you have control of 80% of the south, if you don’t have anything in the north, you cannot make it. If you have 80% control of the North, if you don’t have any state in the South, you can’t make it, and that’s what it is.”

The APC campaign chief used the electoral record of former President Muhammadu Buhari to support his argument, recalling that Buhari failed to win the presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

Buhari contested under the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in 2003 and 2007 before running under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011.

Yari said Buhari enjoyed considerable support in northern Nigeria but failed to secure enough backing in the South to win those elections.

“Look at Buhari of blessed memory. He had control of over 70% at that time, over 11 states in the North, and had no control of one in the South. He couldn’t make it all the way,” he said.

In contrast, Yari claimed Tinubu had support in more than 10 states in both the North and South, adding that the president’s political reach gave him an advantage over his challengers.

“This is the calculation; it is not rocket science,” he added.

Beyond the regional spread of support, Yari argued that Tinubu’s performance since taking office in May 2023 would help him secure another term.

The former governor said the administration had made progress in addressing the challenges it inherited and insisted that the APC had achievements it could present to voters ahead of the next election.

“President Bola Tinubu, since the time he assumed office, has turned around the situation that he met on the ground; still, the economy is moving. So I think we have done enough that we can tell our opponents about what we did,” Yari said.

He added, “We are not promising. We are doing it, and we are going to continue.”