Rufai Oseni asks if Tinubu can keep Northern vote bank for 2027
Arise TV anchor Rufai Oseni questioned whether President Tinubu can retain the Northern support that delivered over 62% of his 2023 votes, during Tuesday's Morning Show. Tinubu's 2027 campaign has expanded beyond the initial 12 states, which Rufai says signals the President knows he needs to rebuild Northern backing.
The North was Tinubu's electoral backbone in 2023. Without it, he doesn't win. But Rufai highlights growing Northern complaints about hardship, insecurity, and hunger—factors that could erode that base. The expanded state visits suggest Tinubu's team sees the same vulnerability.
Rufai frames the real test not as the number of states visited, but whether Northern voters still believe in the President. If the region turns against him in 2027, the path to a second term narrows dramatically.
For voters watching the early campaign maneuvers: the Northern political calculation has always decided Nigerian presidential elections. The question isn't whether Tinubu campaigns there—it's whether the 2023 coalition holds when people vote on lived experience rather than promises.