- Barrister Saifuddeen Coomassie, a law graduate of the University of Artfordshire United Kingdom – and Lecturer at Baze University, Abuja, in this interview, speaks on why the people of Northern Nigeria should support President Bola Tinubu in 2027 to complete eight years in office by 2031. He blames prominent northern leaders for pursuing selfish political agenda very unhealthy for the region promising to mobilize massively and sensitize millions of the population. Coomassie spoke to Anule Emmanuel.
Q: What will you be telling Nigerians regarding support for President Bola Tinubu in next year’s general election?
I am a Northerner, and I am highly frustrated with what is happening in our region, and these problems really have nothing to do with just the presidency itself. These problems have been around.
What specific problems are you talking about?
Insecurity, poverty, and low level of education in the north. We have children roaming around the street because they cannot afford education. I think it has been estimated that about 10 million children are out of school and majority of those 10 million children come from the north. People cannot afford to have even two square meal.
Yes, we have the government, the President is here. He has taken over just less than three years ago. Obviously, he is faced with a lot of challenges and problems, and we expect him to live up to the task. Looking at his experience, what he did in Lagos, we had so much hope in him, and it is very important that we keep that hope going.
Fighting the President, going after the president, trying to get him out of the Villa in less than four years, is not going to do us any good. Anybody that is coming in is not going to be able to fix this country in just four years. So, President Tinubu needs time. That is the reality.
The President is somebody that I know, who likes to listen. He likes to take advice and suggestions. So, what we should be doing right now, especially, the people of the north, because the frustration seems to be coming more from the northern part of Nigeria about his government, rather than the southeast, south-south or the southwest, is diqloguing.
I can tell you that as a northerner, I have spoken to many northerners of my age and even below my age. This frustration really is not against the Tinubu government. It is about our leaders, northern leaders. We had leaders in the northern Nigeria for many, many years. They have held so many important positions.
I am talking about people like Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who was a Minister during the president Obasanjo administration, people like Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who was a speaker and later became a governor of Sokoto state. He spent about 16 years in government. We have Atiku Abubakar, who spent eight years as a Vice President. We have many more like them in northern Nigeria.
What really frustrates others and myself in the north is that you don’t really have to be a president or a governor to help your people. I am not seeing that motivation, I am not seeing that humanity in these people (leaders). I have not seen any projects, any initiatives, initiated by northern leaders to help their people to improve in those areas that I have mentioned, like education, agriculture, and security.
The only thing our northern leaders seem to be good at, is to mobilize our people anytime the government unfortunately, is not from the north. They are very good at mobilizing people to go against that government for their own political interest.
We had El-Rufai just less than three years ago telling us that Tinubu is the best thing that could happen to Nigeria, even to the extent of fighting the Buhari government. Fast forward. In less than four years, he is telling us that Tinubu is the worst person ever. So, who are we going to believe? Which version of El-Rufai are we going to believe? Is it El-Rufai of three years ago or El-Rufai of today? Even a normal animal can tell you that this is confusing, let alone a human-being like us with the right senses.
Q: What you are saying invariably is that, you believe that President Tinubu continuing up to 2031, will bring more political stability in the country?
Yes. So, one of the points I want to get across to my northern friends and sisters, and brothers is that there was already a political arrangement in this country, and unfortunately, the people that are telling us to go against President Tinubu were part of that political arrangement. We have Atiku Abubakar who was a Vice President at the time, we have El-Rufai who was a Minister under the Obasanjo administration.
We have the likes of Nuhu Ribadu, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who were old members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They were the ones that sat down and said, we are going to be doing zoning and where the South will do eight years and the North does eight years.
One of their arguments when they came to the northern Nigeria before us, what they campaigned, what they pitches before us was that, for the purpose of political stability, we should forget about our population, and that what matters is the political stability that all us Nigerians want. And for us to maintain that one Nigeria, power has to be rotated from one zone to another.
Mind you that when we talk about the southern part of Nigeria, we are talking about the southwest, southeast, and the south-south. These people all agreed to be called the South.
In northern Nigeria, we have the Northwest, Northeast, and North-central, but we have more in common than those people.
So, when people like Atiku Abubakar who fought former President Obasanjo, against going beyond two terms, and then the El-Rufai who even very recently in the villa, when they went to see late President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2022 primaries, they said, that it was the time of the South to produce a President – it becomes more confusing.
These leaders have always told northern Nigerians what to do. Unfortunately, our people seem to always allow these people tell us what to do. This is why I am calling on my northern brothers and sisters to stand up this time around and say, look, we are not going to do what you want. We will do what we think is best for the region. Because, few years ago, you said that there is zoning, which is good for political stability.
Q: So, you believe strongly that the North standing behind President Tinubu in 2027 is the best option for the region?
The best option for the northern Nigeria is to stand behind President Bola Tinubu in 2027. It benefits the north in many ways. Let me tell you the first thing is that there has been a rotation arrangement already in place. If you go against Tinubu right now, that means you risk political instability. There is already instability in northern Nigeria. We are managing it now, the insecurity issue and many others. If we go against this arrangement, our southern sisters and brothers are not going to sit down and fold their hands, and say nothing. We the people of northern Nigeria are known for keeping promises. We are known for living up to our words. We are not known for going back on our words, and in our promises. It is part of our culture.
This man (Tinubu) supported one of the greatest dreams of northern Nigeria – to make sure that Buhari became the president. He made that dream come into reality for the north. It was one of the joyous moments in the north when Buhari became the president. Tinubu stood next to Buhari, supported Buhari to the end while going against his southern brother, Goodluck Jonathan.
For doing that alone, the north is supposed to support him. He helped realized the Bubari dream. Why not give him the support that he needs as well?
Remember, Buhari was not perfect in eight years, but nevertheless, we stood behind Buhari. We need to do the same with Tinubu. Because, Tinubu came from Buhari, he supported Buhari. So, we should give him that support.
Q: But, if President Tinubu secures a second term in 2027, what do you think he should be doing for the north in terms of meeting their economic and social needs as a government?
I told you earlier that our political leaders in the north, have failed us. They have always protected their political interest, their pockets. They have built wealth for their generations to come. This fight they are having is a fight against Tinubu. It has nothing to do with the northern region. It is solely their fight.
They should go to Villa and fight Tinubu. We are not going to join that fight. And this is the narrative that I am going to be pushing from now until the 2027 election – that the people of northern Nigeria should not support these elements. I think that the money that Atiku has spent in his bid to become the president of Nigeria is enough to help many parts of the north.
If he had done that today, the whole north would have fought for him to become the president. So, what I think the northerners should be focusing on now, is a dialogue between the north and President Tinubu. Mr. President, we helped you become the president, but we are not happy in certain areas.
Maybe, it is not the fault of the President. Maybe, it is our representatives. We also have to look at those representing us up to the Villa. Are they presenting the interest of the north before the President? That is what we need to also change. We need to bring in people that have our interests at heart, people that are going to push the northern agenda in the villa.
So, I think communication and dialogue with the President is necessary. In fact, President Tinubu has one of the best qualities of a leader, which is listening. He likes to listen, he takes suggestions.
I am very sure that if the northern people communicate to him in the right channel, the President is going to listen to them and do what they want him to do.
I strongly think that dialogue and communication are what is going to bring this government to do what the people of the north need. Get the President to focus on the needs of the north.
It’s time for us to checkmate our representatives, those that have voice in the villa. I am ready as as a youth, as somebody who is in my 30s now, I have the education, I have what it takes. What matters is what the people want. I am ready to lead a delegation of youth to the President and convey to the President, ventilate our frustration and hat exactly does the north needs.
I will also begin to massively mobilize northern Nigerians, particularly key stakeholders, to reject hate-mongering by disgruntled leaders in the region and stand by the administration’s transformative reforms aimed at securing the nation’s future. It is also important that we begin to focus more on nurturing our next president. That is one of the communication that we have to convey to the President.
This is the kind of leader we want as you are finishing your second term. This is the kind of leaders that we want you to bring into the villa. So, we should focus on the next four years, nurturing a leader that is going to take over from the President who should be a northerner.
