Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has expressed support for President Bola Tinubu, insisting that minority voices continue to be heard despite political alignments and discussions over rotational presidency.
Speaking on Channels’ Sunday Politics in Abuja on Sunday, Dogara highlighted both the administration’s achievements and the need for inclusivity in national governance.
“The concern will always be that if you go for rotational presidency, then the thing you are compromising may be merit and competence.
“But that is not true, because there is hardly any area of human endeavour where you cannot find someone from the North who is competent or someone from the South who is competent. So I think we can jettison that argument,” he said.
Dogara said the establishment of the Forum of Former Members of the Legislature, which he attended, was meant to harness the experience and training acquired by legislators during their service.
He noted that the forum included senators, House members, former state assembly members, and even councillors from all 774 local governments of Nigeria.
“The overriding purpose of establishing the forum is to harness all the skills members acquired while serving the nation and embedding themselves in the legislative process.
On the principle of rotational presidency, Dogara emphasized fairness and national unity, stating, “Justice to the North must be justice to the South. As Martin Luther King Jr said, justice is indivisible. Once we arrive at that conclusion, it becomes easier to modify and qualify this arrangement so there is no room for mistrust.”
He cited recent developments in the North-East, highlighting Tinubu’s infrastructure and security interventions. Dogara recounted a visit to the Mandara Plateau, where the President initiated the construction of a road linking Gembu to Yumguni, near the Cameroonian border, an infrastructural promise unfulfilled since the 1961 plebiscite.
“This was a region dominated by treacherous terrain. It used to take six hours from Gembu to the headquarters of the Sardauna Local Government and to the Cameroonian border. When the road is completed, the journey will take about 45 minutes. That is leadership,” he said.
Dogara noted improvements in security across the North-East.
He underscored the importance of religious and regional unity, recalling his emergence as Speaker of the House as an example of cooperation across faiths.
“I want to see my emergence as Speaker replayed again and again, where Muslims defend Christians and Christians defend Muslims. That unity is what we need to rebuild the North and Nigeria,” he said.
On opposition claims that the APC may not win freely contested elections, Dogara dismissed them as “vitriol and bluster.” He argued that credible alternatives and political mathematics matter more than mere rhetoric.
