Bashir Dalhatu, chairman of the board of trustees (BoT) of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has accused President Bola Tinubu of neglecting and marginalising northern Nigeria, despite the overwhelming support he received from the region during the 2023 elections.
Dalhatu made the remarks on Tuesday at a two-day interactive session on government-citizen engagement in Kaduna, organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF). The event aimed to review President Tinubu’s electoral promises to the region under the theme, “Assessing Electoral Promises: Fostering Government-Citizens Engagement for National Unity.”
He recalled that during a similar engagement in October 2022—before the general elections—then-presidential candidate Tinubu attended an interactive session in Kaduna where he received a written address outlining the major concerns of northern Nigeria. In response, Tinubu reportedly presented his own written document detailing how he intended to address those concerns.
“In that meeting, we presented to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu a written address containing details of the issues of urgent concern to the people of Northern Nigeria,” Dalhatu said. “In turn, he gave us his own written document containing details of the issues he believed were of concern to the north and how he intended to address them.”
According to Dalhatu, the north delivered over five million votes to Tinubu in the 2023 elections. However, two years into his administration, he said there is growing dissatisfaction in the region over perceived marginalisation in appointments, infrastructure, budget priorities, and access to social services.
“To our surprise, those who did not support him, did not vote, and hardly wished him well have emerged from nowhere and are trying to push a wedge between him and the north,” Dalhatu stated.
“Whether or not they are succeeding, we do not know. But we cannot pretend not to observe that President Tinubu’s budget priorities, his infrastructural projects, his appointments, and other executive actions have, over the last two years, largely sidelined northern Nigeria.”
He added that the federal government’s policies and resource allocations appear “openly skewed against Northern Nigeria.”
The ACF BoT chairman also lamented the worsening insecurity in the region, noting that widespread violence—marked by killings, bombings, cattle rustling, and kidnappings—continues to cripple economic and social life in the north.
“Even as we speak, this crisis shows no signs of abating. The insurgent groups continue to multiply, their attacks becoming more deadly,” he warned.
Dalhatu urged the federal government to renew its focus on the north and take urgent steps to address its security and developmental challenges.