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By Cynthia Alo 

The National Publicity Secretary, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Prof. Tukur Mohammed-Baba, has declared that President Bola Tinubu has lost significant political standing in the North since 2023, warning that neither former Vice President Atiku Abubakar nor Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate, Peter Obi, offers the region any credible alternative ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Mohammed-Baba made the declaration  Monday on PrimeTime Arise Television interview in which he described the entire Nigerian political class, without exception, as bereft of ideas, driven by personal ambition, and incapable of addressing the twin crises of insecurity and economic meltdown ravaging the country.

He said: “I have not seen a party that articulates a clear policy ambition or an ideological standard. The average northern voter is disillusioned and has been for a long time.

“We have tried all kinds of permutations—northern candidates, Muslim-Muslim tickets, and so on. It seems to the average northerner that all this politics is about personalities and personal interests. It is not about people.”

On President Tinubu, whose 2023 election victory was partly built on substantial northern support, he said, “The impact of his policies on the economy and especially on individual lives has been highly disappointing, if not disturbing.

“Furthermore, the insecurity thing, no matter what the government says, is getting worse. Over a year ago, we talked about the ‘Forest Guards.’ It is only recently, with the event in Oyo and in Borno States , that they are talking of deploying 1,000 forest guards in some of the states but researchers have shown that there are over 30,000 terrorists operating in our ungoverned spaces.”

He cited the case of a northern village where bandits ordered residents off their farmland and subsequently threatened to invade their homes, forcing the community abandoned by the state to resolve to stand their ground collectively rather than flee.

“We are gradually normalising self-help  that unless you do something, the government will not be there to protect you. That undermines the essence of the role of the state,” he said.

Turning to Atiku, he described him as a “recurring decimal” who, despite multiple attempts at the presidency, had still not articulated what he would do differently.

“I don’t see anything from him that presents an alternative apart from saying this government has failed,” he said. “Where is the beef?”

On Peter Obi, Mohammed-Baba said whatever goodwill the former Anambra governor built in the North before 2023 had since been squandered by serial party defections that left northern voters questioning his purpose.

“He has moved to two or three parties. The question we ask is: what does he want?” he said.

He also took aim at Obi’s running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, saying his recent remarks invoking northern icons Ahmadu Bello and Aminu Kano while positioning himself as a “new Messiah” were deeply offensive to northern sensibilities.

“In the North, that is very irreverent. It would be highly delusional for him to go that far and say he presents an alternative.

“An alternative in terms of what? Has he articulated anything on the economy, security, or  anything on infrastructure?  When you keep talking about things in abstract terms that run counter-intuitive to what the people have held on to, you will run into trouble,” he said.

When pressed to identify any presidential aspirant who might command northern confidence, Mohammed-Baba declined to name a single name. “We are waiting to see,” he said flatly.

He also challenged the APC’s strategy of crushing opposition parties through defections and court actions, cautioning that complacency could prove costly.

“Nothing fails like success,” he warned. “Be very careful, because sometimes complacency can spring surprises.”

Mohammed-Baba equally dismissed the notion that the North constitutes a single deliverable voting bloc, insisting the region’s diversity made such calculations simplistic.

“No one region can determine on its own the outcome of a presidential election  and the North has never been able to do so alone, outside of military rule,” he said.

According to him, with fuel prices exceeding N1,300 per litre in most parts of the country, out-of-school children running into millions, and bandits imposing levies on farmers across Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states, Mohammed said the 2027 contest would ultimately be decided not by political alliances or region, but by whichever candidate first offers Nigerians a credible way out.

“Is there anybody offering an alternative now?” he asked. “I don’t see anything.”

The post North tired of Tinubu, Atiku, Obi – ACF appeared first on Vanguard News.

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By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC on Tuesday confirmed that it has filed appeals against two Federal High Court judgments that questioned aspects of its Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Election, insisting that the activities contained in the timetable are interrelated operational processes that cannot be arbitrarily isolated or removed without throwing the entire electoral calendar into disarray.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan SAN, who disclosed this at the Commission’s Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with leaders of political parties held in Abuja, said the Commission had carefully considered the two judgments and taken the necessary legal steps to obtain authoritative pronouncements from the appellate courts.

The first judgment, delivered on May 20, 2026, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/517/2026 — Youth Party versus INEC — questioned certain timelines contained in the Commission’s timetable. The second, delivered on May 26, 2026, in Suit No.

FHC/ABJ/CS/720/2026 — Social Democratic Party (SDP) versus INEC — produced a mixed outcome: it affirmed the Commission’s authority to issue an electoral timetable but simultaneously nullified certain timelines relating to the nomination and substitution of candidates.

Prof. Amupitan noted that in the SDP judgment, the court itself acknowledged that “an election timetable, without date for submission of parties’ membership register, timeframe for primaries, etc. is inchoate. Without this timetable, there would be chaos in our electoral system.”

“While the Commission remains fully respectful of the decisions of the Courts and of the judicial process generally, these judgments raise important legal questions concerning the extent of the Commission’s constitutional and statutory powers in coordinating and regulating electoral activities,” the INEC Chairman said.

He argued that the activities in the timetable were not isolated events but interrelated operational processes designed to ensure the orderly, transparent, and successful conduct of elections, and that while the Electoral Act prescribed timelines for certain activities, several critical electoral processes existed for which no express statutory timelines were provided but which must necessarily be accommodated within the overall electoral calendar.

Prof. Amupitan listed such activities to include the submission and verification of party membership registers; monitoring of party primaries across the federation; pre-upload of primary results on the Commission’s designated portal; the nomination process; printing of ballot papers and result sheets; quality assurance procedures; deployment of election materials; training of election personnel; voter education and sensitisation; procurement of sensitive materials; configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines; and compliance with statutory obligations such as inviting political parties to inspect samples of electoral materials pursuant to Section 42 of the Electoral Act, 2026.

“The Commission therefore considers it imperative that all electoral activities be harmonised within a coherent and workable framework that promotes certainty, transparency, administrative efficiency and equal treatment of all political parties,” he said.

Prof. Amupitan assured political parties and Nigerians that notwithstanding the pending appeals, the Commission remained firmly committed to conducting the 2027 General Election in strict compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and all lawful judicial pronouncements.

He also announced that on Friday, June 26, 2026, the Commission would issue official access codes to all political parties for the purpose of accessing the Candidate Nomination Portal, enabling designated national officers to upload the names, personal particulars, and other required information relating to nominated candidates.

Amupitan warned that the portal was fully automated and would close automatically at the expiration of the prescribed period.

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