A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has warned northern and southern leaders against being fooled by President Bola Tinubu’s tricks to grab power in 2027.

Frank made the call in a statement issued Wednesday.

He said while Tinubu is on the one hand blackmailing southerners, especially opposition governors on the platform of the PDP, Labour Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance by playing the ethnic card to gain support, he is on the other hand threatening to deal with them if they fail to support him by declaring a state of emergency in their states.

Frank added that 2027 should not be about North or South but who would fix the myriads of challenges confronting the country.

He said: “He has increased the intensity now by blackmailing, intimidating and putting at least five PDP Governors from the South under duress to defect along with their Members in the National Assembly to the APC.

“To Tinubu, the 2027 election is about him versus the North and that is why he is trying desperately to enlist the support of the South through manipulation and subterfuge. He has forgotten so soon that the North helped him to get to power in 2023.

“Nigerians are in need of a President who will help Nigeria become better, not ‘Northern candidate or Southern candidate’ or ‘Northern President or Southern President’.

“The country is overcharged already with divisions along ethnic lines. We therefore can’t afford to have a President who is setting one region against another for the sake of his own personal ambition.

“For me, Timi Frank, as a Southerner, I don’t believe in tribalistic and a divisive president. I believe in a leader that will come and unite rather than divide Nigeria.

“I advise every Northerner still supporting Tinubu to have a rethink. They should know that the North that apparently ‘assisted’ Tinubu to gain power in 2023 are suffering the most today.

“It is a fact that the north has been grossly sidelined in appointments and other infrastructure development programmes by Tinubu who has prioritised his personal and tribal life interests over the everything else.”

“This is why the North should wake up. They should know this route Tinubu is going in terms of 2027 politics, is not the best for Nigeria. They should rise and speak with one voice in 2027.

“I want the Northern leaders to know that should Tinubu find his way back to power in 2027, the North will suffer untold neglect as Tinubu and the APC don’t have their genuine interest at heart.

“As we speak, at least five opposition governors are set to defect to APC not because they like Tinubu but due to intense political pressure, intimidation and blackmail, while those who will remain have been made to sign undertakings to deliver their states to Tinubu otherwise they will be made to lose their second terms elections.

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‎At least 150 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, strengthening the opposition party.
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‎Prominent defectors include Peter Okonkwo, former Commissioner for Local Government; Nonso Ochi, LP’s 2023 Awgu North candidate; Onyeka Chukwuedo, PDP Awgu South aspirant; Chief John Edeh, PDP Nkanu West aspirant; Chief Tony Chigbo, former Uzo-Uwani LGA Chairman; and Emeka Abba, LP chieftain from Udenu.
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‎The defectors were welcomed during an expanded stakeholders’ meeting at the APC’s state secretariat on Saturday. A communiqué stated, “The leaders note with excitement that our party has witnessed significant growth with the influx of new members in the last year. The number of new decampees that we received today is evidence of such an influx across the local government areas and wards.”
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‎Stakeholders endorsed the indefinite suspension of Senator Chuka Utazi by his Nkpologu ward and Uzo-Uwani LGA for alleged anti-party activities, urging the State Executive Committee to ratify it
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‎They accused the Peter Mbah-led government of failing to address killings in Uzo-Uwani and Isi-Uzo, stating, “The party declared that the Peter Mbah-led government has failed in its primary duty of protecting lives and property… the huge population of the citizens in the rural areas are left at the mercy of killer herdsmen and other criminals.”
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‎The APC praised Minister Uche Nnaji for securing federal projects, jobs, and welfare packages, including Easter rice and 2024 farming fertilisers. They dismissed former chairman Ben Nwoye’s resignation, noting: “One cannot be resigning from a party that he or she is no longer a member of since 2023.”
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‎The meeting reaffirmed loyalty to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, urging Igbo support.
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US Congressional lawmakers have lamented the treatment of students, Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, being detained by US immigration authorities.

The students are being kept in detention for their pro-Palestinian activism.

The lawmakers described the US government’s action as a “national disgrace” as they visited the two facilities in Louisiana where each are being held.

Addressing the press after the visit on Tuesday, Louisiana congressman, Troy Carter, said, “We stand firm with them in support of free speech.

“They are frightened, they’re concerned, they want to go home.”

The students, Öztürk doing his PhD at Tufts University and Khalil, a graduate of Columbia have been in detention for more than a month.

Members of the delegation noted that the students were being held in violation of their constitutional rights.

The delegation included representatives Carter, Bennie Thompson, Ayanna Pressley, Jim McGovern, Senator Ed Markey, and Alanah Odoms, the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana.

They met with the two detainees and others as they conducted “real-time oversight” of a “rogue and lawless” administration, as Pressley said.

“It’s a national disgrace what is taking place,” Markey said.

“We stand right now at a turning point in American history. The constitution is being eroded by the Trump administration. We saw today here in these detention centers in Louisiana examples of how far [it] is willing to go,” he said.