Northern group explains why Tinubu dropped El-Rufai, Kwankwaso as ministers

The reason some northern politicians were not included in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's cabinet has been disclosed by the Coalition of the Northern Youths Movement Initiative (CNYMI).

The coalition alleged a plot to weaken prominent politicians from the region ahead of the 2027 general election.

According to the group, the fate that befell a former Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP during the selection of Tinubu's ministers and members of his cabinet was a planned arrangement against the north and its people, in the forthcoming presidential election.

The group, however, called on the judiciary, security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to abide by their oath of allegiance to the people and the Nigerian constitution, Leadership reported.

The CNYMI maintained that any form of injustice against the northern region would be resisted and cautioned politicians against being accomplices in the plot to undermine the people of the region.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the chairman of the group, Hamza Bala Lawal, flanked by its secretary, Ibrahim Muhammad Inuwa, recalled how Senator Abdulazeez Yari, the former Zamfara governor, "was subsequently rubbished by the government when he tried to become the Senate president of the country."

He stated thus: “The chairman of the group also claimed that there is a plot to weaken political elites in the north ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“We are however calling on President Tinubu not to do anything that would truncate the peace and tranquility that exist in the country by allowing the will of the people in all electoral contests to prevail at all times.”

2027: NNPP reacts to alleged coalition with opposition parties

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives member representing Kiru and Bebeji Federal Constituency, Abdulmumin Jibrin, reacted to the alleged coalition with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

On Friday, December 8, Jubrin said the NNPP is not in talks with the PDP or any political party at the moment. In a statement issued via his X page (formerly known as Twitter) @AbdulAbmJ, he described the report of forming a coalition with PDP as a blatant lie and an act of mischief makers.