Returning subsidy will cripple North, APC warns

.As party receives defecting ADC candidates

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday warned that any return of fuel subsidy would cripple Northern Nigeria, saying it would end road, gas and fertiliser projects and push northerners back into poverty.

Yilwatda spoke at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja while receiving candidates of the African Democratic Congress ADC for various State Houses of Assembly in the North who withdrew from the race and defected to the APC.

The delegation was led by Princess Aslam Aliyu, also known as Gimbiyar Kauran Namoda, while Hon. Mohammed Hassan, an ADC candidate from Zamfara State, spoke on its behalf.

Hassan said the defectors were joining the APC for a bigger purpose. “We are not here merely to change the political platform, but to begin a new chapter of service and a great contribution to our people by supporting Baba Tinubu to a Renewed Hope Agenda 2027. We have come to work, we have come to contribute,” he said.

Yilwatda responded by taking on the opposition’s promise to return subsidy. “The Hausa radio stations tell us that they will return subsidy. I keep on asking, how are they going to return the subsidy? You mean they will stop all this road construction because they want to return subsidy? Because there will be no money for this construction, all this road again,” he said.

He said the gas being brought to the north would come with fertiliser, which farmers badly needed, and that compressed natural gas would ease transportation for vulnerable people. “The beneficiaries of the student loan, most of them are from the north. We have more of them in this part of the country. We should stop it?” he asked, adding: “Questions are too many. We can’t answer them all here.”

The chairman also recalled the state of northern finances before the present administration. “Among the about 30 states that could not pay salaries in Nigeria, all the states in the north, none could pay salaries as of 2023. So should we say our state now should go back again? They couldn’t pay salaries, they couldn’t pay gratuities. It will increase poverty again in the north”, he said.

Yilwatda rejected claims by the ADC, made on Hausa-language radio programmes, that the President neglects the north. “They will tell you on Hausa radio programmes that Mr. President doesn’t like the northern part of Nigeria. Let’s ask: Where are the northern Nigerians? Where are you? We are part of the north.

“The road from Abuja to Kano is 400 kilometres. The road from Kano to Maiduguri is 500 kilometres. Two of them alone are 900, almost 1,000 kilometres,” he said, adding that the Abuja to Kano road was “nearly completed” while the Maiduguri to Kano section was “almost 50% nearly completed”.

He listed other roads under construction, including the Jos to Akwanga road, the Kwara to Mokwa road in Niger State, the Sokoto to Kebbi road, the Kano to Daura road, and the roads linking Zaria to Illela in Sokoto. “I can keep on counting all of those roads, so I keep on asking, where is that north they are talking about?” he said.

Turning to the defectors, Yilwatda said the party chose to receive them at the national secretariat in recognition of the sacrifices they have made.

He noted that they had resigned from the ADC at the ward level and presented their letters, calling it “the first step”. The second, he said, is for them to return to their wards and register as APC members.

The chairman then drew a comparison between the President and leading opposition figures. “Mr President is one of the most experienced politicians in Nigeria, also a technocrat, that builds an inclusive home,” he said, noting that in Lagos, “a Muslim from Kano, was a local government chairman in Lagos. Someone from Anambra state, was Commissioner for Budget in Lagos State.”

He then challenged the opposition to match that record. “Obi was a governor in Anambra State. Tell me one person from outside Anambra State who was a commissioner in his cabinet. Kwankwaso was a governor in Kano. Tell me one person who was outside Kano who was a commissioner in Kano State. None,” Yilwatda said.

Assuring the new members of a place in the party, he said: “You are welcome to this party. You are welcome to this family. You are welcome to our homes.” He urged them to return to their governors and local governments and work for the party’s campaign in their polling units.

“On election day, nobody will vote at the local government level. Nobody will vote at the state level. All of us who are national will all go to our own polling units. So strengthen your polling units. Because all elections are won at the polling units,” Yilwatda said.