The Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdul Aziz Yari Abubakar, has called on Nigerians in the North to respect the informal power-rotation arrangement and allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to complete his constitutionally permitted eight-year tenure.

Yari made the call while addressing journalists at the Kano Government House after a meeting with Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The former Zamfara State governor said the North should understand and respect the political arrangement that brought the presidency to the South in 2023, arguing that the presidency had been held by a northerner for several years before the emergence of Tinubu.

Yari said, “66 years ago since independence, the country was led by northerners for 47 years,” adding that Nigerians should recognise the importance of maintaining unity and understanding how the country’s political system operates.

According to him, Nigeria remains a country that all citizens must work together to protect, regardless of regional or political differences.

“As we love this country, we don’t have any country other than Nigeria. Nigerians should come and understand how this country works. It is also better than many nations,” Yari said.

The APC chieftain explained that his role as Director-General of the campaign council was not limited to promoting President Tinubu but also included promoting national unity and understanding among Nigerians.

Yari said the current political arrangement should be respected, noting that former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, governed the country between 2015 and 2023 before power shifted to Tinubu from the South in 2023.

“Having said this, this country, Nigeria, from 2015 to 2023 was led by a northerner, and now from 2023 to 2026 it is led by a southerner,” he said.

He therefore appealed to northerners not to seek to overturn the existing zoning arrangement on the basis of the region’s population, saying the political understanding was important for national stability.

“If we say we want to uproot the zoning arrangement because of our numbers, then my call for northerners is to understand how it works. They even understand more than I do,” Yari said.

He acknowledged that President Tinubu’s administration, like every government, was not perfect, but argued that the challenges facing Nigeria should not solely be attributed to the administration.

“Nobody is perfect. The southerners have also experienced what we are complaining about today when President Buhari was in power,” he said.

Yari also argued that insecurity was not peculiar to Nigeria, saying countries across the world, including the United States, continue to grapple with security challenges despite their level of development.

“On problems, no problem of a country is solved by any government, including even in the United States. They are managing insecurity as we are managing it,” he said.

The APC campaign council director-general further cited gun violence in Chicago as an example of the security challenges faced by other countries, stressing that every nation has its own problems that require continuous efforts to address.

Turning to the economy, Yari said Nigerians should assess the Tinubu administration based on economic indicators and compare the situation at the time the president assumed office in 2023 with the current position.

“When you look at when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power in 2023, go and check what was the state of our reserves and what it is today, and what was the rate of inflation in 2023 and what it is today,” he said.

Yari maintained that the administration was making efforts to address the country’s economic and security challenges, while acknowledging that governments at both federal and state levels were working to improve the situation.

He urged Nigerians, particularly those in the North, to give the political arrangement time, arguing that the presidency would return to the region after Tinubu’s tenure if the existing rotation principle was maintained.

“I am calling on northerners to note that by the time Bola Ahmed Tinubu finishes in 2031, it will definitely come back to the North. So, this is how the arrangement is,” Yari said.

He added that federal and state governments were making efforts to address the challenges confronting the country and urged Nigerians to support measures aimed at strengthening national unity and development.

The National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria has commenced a 15-day nationwide warning strike over what it described as the devaluation of its members’ businesses by Chinese and other foreign companies operating in Nigeria.

The association announced the commencement of the strike on Thursday, saying its members were withdrawing their services to draw the attention of the Federal Government and relevant authorities to what it described as unfair practices threatening the survival of the scrap and waste recycling industry.

The Vice President of the association, Aminu Hassan Soja, popularly known as Sarkin Karafan Kasar Hausa, disclosed the decision while addressing journalists in Kano on Thursday.

Hassan said members of the association were losing between ₦2 million and ₦3 million on every truckload of scrap materials as a result of what he alleged were activities of Chinese and other foreign companies in the sector.

According to him, the situation had significantly affected the prices of scrap materials and was making it increasingly difficult for Nigerian-owned businesses to remain viable.

The association’s vice president further alleged that some foreign operators were involved in practices that were affecting the quality of construction materials produced from recycled metals.

Hassan specifically alleged that 12-millimetre iron rods were being presented or processed as 10-millimetre rods, a development he linked to concerns over the quality of building materials and the reported collapse of buildings in different parts of the country.

He said the alleged practices were taking place despite existing laws and regulations governing the production and marketing of construction materials in Nigeria.

The association’s leader expressed concern that foreign companies were allegedly operating as though there were no effective laws regulating their activities in the country.

Hassan said the decision to embark on the 15-day strike followed efforts by the association to draw the attention of relevant authorities to the challenges facing its members.

He said the association had written to relevant government agencies as well as security agencies to formally notify them of the warning strike and its implications.

According to him, the association has a membership of more than two million people across the country, stressing that its members had complied with the directive to withdraw their services.

Hassan described the association as one of the largest employers of labour in the country outside the agricultural sector, saying the activities of its members contribute significantly to employment and the recycling economy.

He said the strike was therefore intended to compel the authorities to address the concerns raised by the association and protect local operators in the scrap and waste business.

Soja says the association’s leadership had information that some individuals could attempt to act as saboteurs from within the association.

Hassan urged members to remain united and adhere to the directive throughout the 15-day warning strike, while calling on government agencies to intervene in the issues raised by the association.

He said the association remained open to dialogue with the Federal Government and other stakeholders, but insisted that the concerns of its members must be addressed to prevent further losses and protect businesses operating in the sector.

The Kaduna State High Court has dismissed an application seeking the recusal of Justice Darius Khobo from the trial of former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.

The court, in its ruling last week on the application, held that the applicant had not waived his right to complain of alleged bias by his conduct.

Justice Khobo, however, ruled that the multiple processes filed by the applicant before the Court of Appeal and the Kaduna State High Court constituted an abuse of court processes.

The court also held that the applicant failed to establish a likelihood of bias against him.

The court formulated three issues for determination in resolving the application.
On whether the applicant had waived his right to complain of bias by his conduct, the court resolved the issue in favour of the applicant, holding that the right had not been waived by mere conduct.

However, in the second issue, whether the applicant had abused the processes of the court, the court ruled in favour of the respondent, finding that the multiple processes filed before the Court of Appeal and the State High Court constituted an abuse of court process.

The third issue, which concerned whether there was a likelihood of bias against the applicant, was also resolved in favour of the respondent, with the court holding that the applicant failed to prove such likelihood.

In its final analysis, the court held that the application for recusal lacked merit and consequently refused and dismissed it.
The court directed that the trial on the substantive charge should continue on a day-to-day basis, as practicable in the circumstances.

It further ordered that the defendant remain in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, pending the continuation of the trial.

The case was adjourned to October 12 and 13, 2026, for accelerated hearing.