Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has warned political parties against relying on the number of governors they control as a guarantee of victory in the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso, a former Kano State governor, spoke on Thursday at the NDC Town Hall Meeting in Rivers State, where he argued that several governors, particularly in the North, had performed poorly and might struggle to campaign for their parties ahead of the elections.
A video of the meeting was shared on X by a user, ChuksEricE.
The former governor said the outcome of previous elections had shown that an incumbent government could be defeated despite controlling a large number of states.
He cautioned those banking on the support of more than 30 governors against assuming that such control would automatically translate into electoral victory.
“The sitting president lost the election. I’m giving you an example, especially those who think because they have over 30 governors, they cannot lose the election. That is a very big mistake,” he said.
Kwankwaso predicted that some governors, particularly those in the North, would find it difficult to campaign for their parties because of what he described as poor performance in office.
“By the grace of God, all of them, especially the ones in the North, because I studied the trend. The trend is those governors and their party have performed woefully to the extent that it is very difficult for them even to come out and campaign,” he said.
He also criticised what he described as poor management of public resources by state governors and the Federal Government, arguing that government revenues had increased substantially compared with previous years.
Recalling his experience as governor in 1999, Kwankwaso said states and local governments received about N4 billion each at the time.
He, however, questioned the impact of the increased revenues accruing to governments in recent years on the lives of Nigerians.
“Now in one year, we have seen it on social media that our government collected over N1.11tn, just less than one year. You go around, what have you done with that money? Close to nothing,” he said.
Kwankwaso said the alleged poor performance of governments had increased public anger across the country, warning that insecurity remained a major concern, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
“And people are very angry. And this anger is bad, and worse is the issue of insecurity, especially in northern Nigeria,” he stated.
