TINUBU IS DIGGING HIS POLITICAL GRAVE – EX-NHIS BOSS, USMAN YUSUF

“North Has No Reason To Vote For Him Again After Betrayal In Appointments”

By Naija News Political Desk

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been accused of “committing political suicide” by alienating the very region that secured his victory in the 2023 election — the North.

In an explosive interview with The Punch, Prof. Usman Yusuf, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), said Tinubu’s lopsided appointments in favour of the South-West, especially Lagos, amount to a betrayal of trust and could doom his 2027 ambitions.

According to Yusuf, the North contributed 62 per cent of Tinubu’s total votes, with the North-West being the decisive bloc that propelled him to Aso Rock. By contrast, he claimed the South-West, including Lagos, gave little to Tinubu’s victory — and yet, the president has concentrated “over 70 per cent of his appointments” there.

> “Katsina, where I come from, gave him more votes than his own Lagos. We sheltered him politically, but today he alienates us,” Yusuf fumed.
The fiery critic described Tinubu’s governance style as “parochial and South-West–centric”, insisting that the president neither understands nor respects Nigeria’s political diversity.

> “It’s political suicide for any politician to alienate his electoral base and expect us to vote for him again. The North has no reason to vote for him anymore,” he declared.

Yusuf further accused Tinubu of still “ruling Lagos from Aso Rock,” claiming no governor emerges in the state without his approval — a political culture he said is alien to other regions of Nigeria.

> “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s politics is South-West–based. He doesn’t understand Nigerian politics at all, and that’s why he keeps committing blunders all over the place,” he warned.

Yusuf’s scathing remarks come at a time of growing discontent in the North over worsening hardship, subsidy removal, and perceived marginalisation in Tinubu’s administration. Analysts say the former NHIS boss’s comments could amplify calls for the region to reconsider its political alliance with the ruling APC ahead of the next general election.