Northern socio-political groups, including the Arewa Consultative Forum, the Coalition of Northern Groups, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, the League of Northern Democrats, and Arewa Youth Consultative Council, have thrown their weight behind former Kano State Governor and national leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, following his claims that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is marginalising the North in developmental projects and appointments.
Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential candidate of the NNPP, while speaking during a Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment organised by the Kano State government, accused Tinubu’s administration of sidelining the northern region, alleging that national resources are being disproportionately channelled towards developing the South, the President’s home region.
He attributed rising poverty and insecurity in the region, as well as deteriorating infrastructure to the neglect of the region by the Tinubu’s administration.
“Let me advise the Federal Government on the distribution of federal resources. From the information available to us, it is like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.
“Let me advise those who are struggling by all means to take everything to remember that some of the issues that we have in this part of the country today have to do with the lack of enough resources and mismanagement of the little that comes in.
“That is why we have insecurity, we have poverty and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it would go everywhere,” Kwankwaso said.
Reacting to the claims, the Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication to Tinubu, Sunday Dare, described Kwankwaso’s remarks as “incorrect and misleading.”
Dare insisted that the region is benefitting significantly from ongoing federal investments across critical sectors.
He listed key road infrastructure projects such as the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano Expressway, Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway, Kano–Kongolam Road, Kaduna–Jos Road, and the Kano–Maiduguri Dual Carriageway.
However, backing Kwankwaso, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Prof Tukur Muhammad-Baba, said the former Kano governor’s statement echoed widespread concerns of the North over what he described as glaring lopsidedness in the policies and appointments of the Tinubu-led government.
Although the ACF image maker was quick to clarify that his stance was personal and not that of the pan-northern socio-political body, he alleged that allocations, appointments, and developmental projects under Tinubu had been heavily skewed to favour the South-West, at the expense of the North, which played a significant role in his electoral victory.
“The accusations aren’t new. Long before now, the ACF has consistently called out the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration on the lopsidedness of its policies, appointments, budgetary proposals provisions and projects. The bias is glaring.
“Most of such allocations have unashamedly in favour of the segment of the country from which the President hails,” he alleged.
Muhammad-Baba said the administration’s reluctance to acknowledge the disparity had only deepened public mistrust.
Also speaking, the National Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Jamilu Charanchi, described Kwankwaso’s statement as a reflection of the long-held sentiment of the majority in the North, who feel increasingly marginalised under Tinubu’s administration.
He argued that the North gave Tinubu the majority of votes in the 2023 presidential election and deserved a fair share of the national cake.
Charanchi cited the prolonged delay in completing the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, a critical project that has lingered for over a decade, as evidence of the government’s neglect of the region.
“I don’t think there is anything new in what Rabiu Kwankwaso said yesterday because the North has been agitating that Tinubu is sidelining them. For the fact that the North gave him the major votes that brought him into power, but as I always said, he still has a chance, though, you can see him now either correcting or amending his mistakes, created earlier by prioritising other parts than the Northern part of the country.
“Rabiu Kwankwaso stated clearly that the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, which ought to have been finished by now, has still not been completed 10 years later. I think Rabiu Kwankwanso is right, and we urge Tinubu to do the right thing and effect some necessary changes. At least, it will not go against him when the time comes because the North may think that, are not going to be marginalised again, even though the majority of people in the North felt that they had been marginalised in his administration,” Charanchi said.
Also speaking, the Gombe State Coordinator of CNG, Mohammed Deba, lamented that insecurity and poverty in the region had worsened under Tinubu’s administration.
“We are with Kwankwaso on this one. He has said it all, and our anguish has not changed that this government is paying more attention to the southern region than it is to the north, and it’s unfair,” he added.
Continuing, Deba called on the current administration to change tactics, saying “the entire country should be every administration’s focus, not sectional disposition.”
On his part, the Secretary of the Youth Enlightenment and Development Initiative, Batagarawa Branch, Auwal Maharazu, said Kwankwaso spoke out of genuine concern for the development of the North region, adding that the former governor had always been a strong advocate for the North.
“However, while his concerns are valid, I think it’s too early to fully judge Tinubu’s administration. The president has been in office for just over two years, and some of the economic and structural reforms he introduced take time to yield results. Nation-building is a gradual process, and it’s important that we remain patient while also holding our leaders accountable.
“Instead of seeing development in the South as a threat, our leaders in the North should actively engage with the Federal government to ensure balanced growth across all regions. Development should be a shared effort between the federal and state governments.
“My advice to the Tinubu administration is to improve communication with all regions, especially the North, by making project plans, budgets, and implementation strategies more transparent and inclusive. This will build trust and a stronger sense of national belonging,” Maharazu said.
On its part, the LND accused the Tinubu administration of prioritising industrial development in the South while neglecting the North, thereby deepening the region’s economic disparity and underdevelopment.
Speaking with Saturday Punch, the convener of the LND, Umar Ardo, said, “In terms of appointments and projects, you know the north has been marginalised. All the critical ministries and financial institutions where money comes in and out are all headed by Southerners, no one Northerner.
“I read a report that in Ogun State, a cotton industry of over N2bn is being built, and the Federal Government has an interest in it. Where do they plant cotton in Ogun? It is planted in northern Nigeria. The Federal Government is also constructing seven agricultural dams, six of which are in the southwest. These are things that the north looks at, and we say we are marginalised.
Also speaking, the National President of Arewa Youth Consultative Council, Zaid Ayuba, lamented that despite the North contributing over 74 per cent of the votes that brought Tinubu into power, the president has continued to neglect the region.
He noted that youths across the 19 northern states had been watching the Tinubu administration’s policies with growing concern.
“We watch with amusement how a lot of policies and activities of the government continue to favour Southern Nigeria while allowing the Northern region to be underdeveloped.
“Northern Nigeria contributed with over 74 per cent of whatever the government needed to have won the election, but the moment Mr President came to power, we began to see from appointments, policies of government and the body language tilting against the north.
“As youths representing our 19 states, we want to use this opportunity to call on the president that there is a day called tomorrow, he will definitely come back to seek re-election, and I believe he cannot become the president of Nigeria again without the support of the north.
“He (Tinubu) should also remember that the country rallied round for him for they believe he was focusing on building Nigeria, not one section of the country, but what we are seeing today, most of the important projects that are being executed by the government are located in the South,” he said.
Tinubu never marginalised North – Afenifere
However, pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, backed Tinubu, describing Kwankwaso’s statement as misleading and unpatriotic.
In an interview with The Punch, Afenifere’s Organizing Secretary, Abagun Kole Omololu, said, “Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s recent outburst, alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is marginalising the North and concentrating national investments in the South, is not only grossly misleading but also deliberately incendiary. As a former governor and minister, one would expect Senator Kwankwaso to speak with facts, not emotions laced with sectional bias.
“It must be stated unequivocally that no region in Nigeria has benefited more from concentrated federal presence in the past decade than the North. During the Buhari administration—a northern presidency, which Senator Kwankwaso conveniently omits—critical national resources were disproportionately channelled to the North.
“The World Bank Managing Director publicly disclosed that President Buhari specifically directed the institution to focus its interventions in northern Nigeria. Where was Kwankwaso’s voice for equity and fairness then?
“Road and rail infrastructure were overwhelmingly skewed. The Kano-Maradi railway, constructed deep into the Niger Republic, with no economic significance to Nigeria, was completed under Buhari. Was this done for national integration or to aid the cross-border movement of Fulani kinsmen?
“Meanwhile, under the same administration, the hell in which the senator travelled was not made heaven; the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, started by President Jonathan and designed to reach Iwo Junction, remained uncompleted. The Second Niger Bridge was still pending upon Buhari’s exit after eight years in office.”
Afenifere also reiterated that in less than two years of Tinubu’s administration, many infrastructural projects had been sited in the northern part of the country, saying Kwankwaso was being economical with the truth in his statement.
“Less than two years into President Tinubu’s administration, Kwankwaso is crying foul. Perhaps he is unaware that critical road projects have been initiated and awarded across the north, including the dualization of the Kano-Maiduguri Road, Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega Road, and the Abuja-Keffi-Lafia corridor. The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, neglected by past regimes, is being fast-tracked. Just weeks ago, President Tinubu approved billions for critical infrastructure in Katsina, Borno, and Niger States.
“Kwankwaso’s alarmist rhetoric is not only unfair but also deeply dangerous. It stokes regional tension and paints a false picture of deliberate southern favouritism.
“Development is a gradual process, and Tinubu has not yet reached the halfway mark of his term. By 2027, and indeed by 2031, every region, including the North, will feel the impact of this administration. We must rise above ethnic saboteurs and sectional agitators masquerading as patriots,” Omololu noted.
Similarly, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, described Kwankwaso’s statement as narrow-minded.
In an interview with Saturday Punch, Ajayi said, “Kwankwaso, in one breath, alleged that Tinubu’s government was diverting the nation’s resources to the South. In the same breath, he attributed the problem in the North to lack of enough resources and mismanagement of the little that comes.
“With that scientific analysis of the real situation, how come that the former governor then blamed Tinubu for the fate being suffered by the North?”
Ajayi wondered why Kwankwaso did not complain when the departed former President Muhammadu Buhari constructed rail line from Daura to Maradi in Niger Republic without completing Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway.
“Kwankwaso did not complain about that. In any case, any unbiased observer of the developmental efforts of Tinubu administration knows that the government is trying to be fair to every part of the country,” he stated.
