Vice presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has warned political parties ahead of the 2027 general election that controlling a large number of states would not automatically translate into victory at the polls.
Kwankwaso issued the warning on Thursday during the NDC Town Hall Meeting in Rivers State, where he argued that electoral success depends on public support rather than the number of governors backing a political platform.
The former Kano State governor said previous elections had shown that incumbent governments could lose despite controlling several states, cautioning parties against assuming that the support of more than 30 governors would guarantee success.
“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,” Kwankwaso stated.
He argued that some governors, particularly in the northern part of the country, might face challenges convincing voters to support their parties because of dissatisfaction with their 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.
Kwankwaso also criticised what he described as poor management of public resources by state and federal authorities, questioning whether increased government revenue had translated into improved living conditions for Nigerians.
Recalling his experience as governor in 1999, he said states and local governments received significantly lower allocations compared with current revenues but questioned the impact of today’s increased earnings.
“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.
The NDC chieftain maintained that rising public dissatisfaction, coupled with insecurity, particularly in northern Nigeria, could influence voters’ decisions in future elections.
“And people are very angry. And this anger is bad, and worse is the issue of insecurity, especially in northern Nigeria,” Kwankwaso stated.
