The apex northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF), has said it will not endorse any presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 general election.
Speaking in Kaduna, ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, disclosed that it would engage presidential aspirants within the next six months to assess their plans for tackling insecurity, poverty and other challenges facing the North.
Prof. Baba said aspirants would be invited to explain their policies on education, infrastructure, economic empowerment and security.
He noted that while the Forum endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, it did not back any candidate in the 2015 or 2023 elections. In 2023, Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi honoured ACF’s invitation for interactive sessions, while Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso did not.
Muhammad-Baba said the forum would again prepare a position paper on northern issues and present it to the winner of the 2027 election. “We are not partisan. We will not endorse any candidate or party but will support ideas and programmes that align with Northern interests”, he stated.
Former ACF Secretary-General, Anthony Sani, and Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Ɗalhatu, reaffirmed the stance, stressing that the forum’s diverse membership makes political endorsements impractical.
According to them, the North would only support candidates committed to promoting and protecting the region’s interests, rather than any political party.
Pending the conduct of primary elections in political parties, some of the leading presidential hopefuls are President Bola Tinubu; former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi; former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi; Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim; and Adewole Adebayo, who have indicated interest to contest the nation’s top seat in 2027.
Although the apex regional body said it would not endorse any candidate in 2027, it had endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Atiku, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in 2019.
The Forum did not endorse a candidate in the 2015 election between then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari as APC’s candidate.
It also did not endorse a presidential candidate in 2023, which had Bola Tinubu, of the APC; Atiku, of the PDP; Peter Obi, of the Labour Party, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as top contenders.
