Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani believes President Bola Tinubu can make a major turnaround in Kaduna in the 2027 presidential election, predicting that the president could take between 70 and 80 per cent of the votes in the state.
Sani gave the projection on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while rejecting claims that Tinubu was losing support in the North. He said political discussions on social media did not necessarily reflect the views of voters at the grassroots.
The governor’s forecast would represent a sharp change from the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in Kaduna. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party won the state with 554,360 votes, while Tinubu, then the All Progressives Congress candidate, received 399,293 votes.
Sani said the political circumstances that produced that result had changed. He pointed to movements within the political class, including the shift of politicians previously associated with opposition parties towards the APC, particularly in Southern Kaduna.
One example is Senator Sunday Marshall Katung, who was elected to the Senate in 2023 on the PDP platform before later moving to the APC. Katung has since backed Tinubu and Sani ahead of the 2027 elections.
Sani also linked the changing political calculations to federal projects in Kaduna, including the Federal University of Applied Sciences in Kachia and the Federal Medical Centre in Kafanchan. The university says it was established by an Act of Parliament in 2025 following presidential assent.
The governor maintained that voters would be more interested in the performance and impact of government than in political sentiment. His projection, however, remains an assessment made ahead of the election and cannot be treated as an indication of the eventual result.
Sani was equally dismissive of the suggestion that the wider North was turning against Tinubu.
“No way. It is not possible.”
He predicted strong support for the president across the Northwest, Northeast and North-Central zones, arguing that political strength would ultimately depend on engagement with voters outside Abuja and on the ground in local communities.
Sani said opposition politicians hoping to defeat Tinubu would have to build their campaigns at the grassroots rather than rely mainly on television appearances, social media activity or meetings in Abuja.
The governor also spoke about Kaduna’s finances during the interview. He said his administration had not obtained a fresh loan since taking office in May 2023, despite continuing to service debts inherited from earlier administrations.
“Since I became governor, I’ve not borrowed with one kobo.”
According to Sani, the state currently spends about N6.7 billion each month from its Federation Account Allocation Committee revenue on debt servicing. The obligation, he said, relates to loans inherited by his administration.
He said the debt burden had not stopped the government from funding projects, adding that his administration had relied on careful management of available resources.
For now, the 70–80 per cent figure remains Sani’s political forecast. Kaduna’s actual voting pattern in 2027 will depend on the electorate and the campaign that unfolds before the election.
