2027: Abejide seeks Kano non-indigenes’ support for APC

By Hadiza Yusuf A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Leke Abejide, has urged Yoruba people and other non-indigenous communities in Kano State to unite and mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and other All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the 2027 general elections. Abejide, who represents Yagba West, Yagba East and Mopa-Muro Federal Constituency of Kogi State, made the appeal on Saturday at the 2026/2027 Kano State Empowerment Programme organised by the Leke Abejide Foundation.

The lawmaker said he was concerned that Tinubu secured just over 500,000 votes across Kano’s 44 local government areas in the 2023 presidential election, despite the large population of Yoruba people and other non-indigenous communities in the state. Describing himself as the Asiwaju of Yoruba people in Kano, Abejide challenged the communities to organise themselves and mobilise support from polling units to wards and local government areas.

“I want our people to unite and bring their votes together to show solidarity with President Tinubu. We must work together to support him, Governor Abba Yusuf and all APC candidates in the 2027 elections,” he said. Abejide also disclosed that the foundation was selecting coordinators from among women and widows benefiting from the empowerment programme to monitor and protect votes across polling units in Kano.

He promised to return with a bigger empowerment programme if the beneficiaries continued to support his initiative, stressing that the intervention was not a one-off exercise. “What we are doing today will continue. Our aim is to help people build successful businesses and become millionaires and even billionaires in the future,” he said. Former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, also urged non-indigenes in Kano to mobilise support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.

Bello called on the communities to increase their support for the President, saying votes from non-indigenes in the state should rise significantly. “We must do better this time. I believe the votes from non-indigenes in Kano for the President should not be less than two million,” he said. He also urged the communities to support all APC candidates contesting for seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly.

Bello commended the Federal Government’s road projects, particularly the Kano-Abuja highway, describing them as evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to infrastructure development. He also praised the Kano State Government for what he described as positive changes in the state. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who also attended the programme, urged members of the National Assembly to emulate Abejide by extending support to their communities and other Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic or religious differences.

He said such gestures would promote unity and peaceful coexistence among different communities. The empowerment programme provided N500 million in interest-free business loans to non-indigenous women to support their businesses. It also featured the distribution of food items, six yards of printed wax fabric and financial assistance to widows.