By Aminu Garko
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rabi’u Sulaiman Bichi, has called on Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubu for a second term, citing performance and the informal zoning arrangement.
Bichi made the call on Sunday at a strategic meeting of Renewed Hope Ambassadors Coordinators in Kano.
He said the administration was implementing the Renewed Hope Agenda, which is driving reforms in the economy, infrastructure, healthcare, education, energy, security and public service delivery.
“Sustainable national development is impossible without policy consistency,” he said. “Nations with transformative progress maintain their programmes across electoral cycles rather than discarding them with each change of leadership.”
Bichi said the current economic reforms, though causing temporary hardship, were necessary to reposition Nigeria for long-term growth and prosperity.
He urged APC coordinators and supporters to intensify grassroots engagement, explain government policies to the public and counter misinformation with facts.
The APC chieftain also warned against abandoning the informal zoning arrangement, which he described as a stabilising factor in the country’s polity.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, suffered electoral setbacks in 2015 and 2023 for disregarding the arrangement.
“There is a wise saying: we learn from experience, but we must not learn only from our own experience. We must learn from the mistakes of others,” Bichi stated.
He urged political and religious leaders to draw lessons from the NADECO era and other periods when political miscalculations led to national turmoil.
Bichi said President Tinubu’s second term was necessary not only because it was earned by performance, but also to preserve the rotational understanding between the North and South, which he described as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s political stability.
“Let us not be led into that situation again,” he cautioned, stressing that the North and South must continue to honour the gentleman’s agreement that promotes inclusivity, fairness and unity in governance.
He expressed confidence in the President’s vision and urged Nigerians to support the Renewed Hope Agenda to achieve greater national prosperity.