The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress, APC, campaign, Abdulaziz Yari, has urged Nigerians not to judge President Bola Tinubu’s administration solely on the security challenges facing the country and economic hardship, citing gun violence in the United States and protests in France as examples of problems confronting other nations.
Yari spoke when he led a delegation of APC leaders and stakeholders to the palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaiman Adamu, where he sought the traditional ruler’s prayers and support for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
The former Zamfara State governor, who acknowledged that Nigeria was facing insecurity and economic hardship, argued that such challenges were not peculiar to the country, insisting that governments across the world were also struggling with security and social problems.
He cited gun violence in the United States, where he said students were killed in schools and people attacked in markets, arguing that developed countries were not immune to security threats.
“In America, there is gun violence. People enter schools and kill students; they also attack people in markets. These things happen there, but they bury their own problems while we expose ours,” Yari said.
He also cited France, saying the country had recently experienced protests, adding that social unrest, economic difficulties and insecurity were challenges confronting different nations.
Yari argued that no government could completely eliminate all the problems facing its citizens, saying leaders could only make efforts to reduce the challenges and improve living conditions.
“There is no leader who would be happy seeing his society in a bad condition. If he had the power, he would make everything right. But that is not how God designed the world. There is no government anywhere that can claim to have completely solved all the problems facing its people,” he said.
The APC campaign DG also defended Tinubu’s economic policies, claiming that the prices of some food commodities had dropped following measures introduced by the Federal Government.
He said a bag of rice, which previously sold for between N100,000 and N110,000, now cost between N58,000 and N60,000.
Yari further claimed that the prices of millet, maize and guinea corn, which had risen to between N90,000 and N100,000, had declined to between N37,000 and N40,000.
He said the government was also working to improve economic conditions through employment opportunities, electricity projects, railway development and road construction.
On insecurity, Yari argued that economic activities and the movement of goods between northern and southern Nigeria had continued despite security challenges, citing the transportation of cattle and food commodities across the country.
He maintained that the government was making efforts to address insecurity, adding that the challenges confronting Nigeria should not be used to undermine national unity.
Yari urged Nigerians to protect the country’s unity and avoid ethnic and political divisions, saying the country’s diversity should be seen as a source of strength.
He said the APC delegation visited the Emir to seek his prayers and blessings for Tinubu’s second-term ambition, expressing hope that the President would succeed in the 2027 election.
Responding, the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaiman Adamu, thanked the delegation for the visit and offered prayers for peace, stability and an end to the various challenges confronting the country.