Babachir Lawal backs Kwankwaso, accuses Tinubu government of marginalising the north

Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), has aligned with Rabiu Kwankwaso, the ex-Kano governor, in accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of marginalising northern Nigeria in infrastructure development.

Speaking during an interview on Sunday Politics, a programme on Trust TV, Lawal said there is no visible evidence of federal government projects ongoing in the north.

“Every Nigerian that has anything to do with the north will know that no infrastructure work is going on at any level,” he said.

“No projects are going on—at least they are not visible to the eye. Maybe in their imagination, maybe in the spirit—but we don’t see it.

“We don’t see any construction work. We don’t see any infrastructure going on. No federal government project whatsoever.”

The former SGF said Kwankwaso, who made a similar claim last week, was right.

“Kwankwaso, remember, is an engineer too—so he, like me, like David Umahi, who’s an engineer too, the way we see things — physical things—the way we see them differently,” Lawal said.

“So, Kwankwaso knows what he’s talking about. And it doesn’t need to be Kwankwaso to say what he said. Every sensible, honest Nigerian will know that the north is being marginalised.”

Lawal said many northerners believe the Tinubu administration is not just ignoring the region but actively rolling back existing gains.

“I believe the sense we get as northerners is that if this government can destroy what they inherited, they’ll willingly do it. That’s the sense we have from this government,” he said.

He questioned the viability of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the region ahead of the next elections.

“I mean, look at it this way—which elected official, a northerner, will go into the campaign on the platform of the APC in this coming election?” he asked.

“Nobody. Except, ab initio, you have no plan to win the election. Unless they join ADC, they will not win—simply because they belong to the destructive party.”

Lawal accused the Tinubu-led government of having an anti-north agenda.

“Everything that this government does is designed to destroy the north,” he said.

His comments follow recent remarks by Kwankwaso, who accused the federal government of concentrating national resources in one part of the country while leaving others behind.

At a stakeholders’ dialogue on the 2025 constitutional amendment in Kano, Kwankwaso said poverty and insecurity in the north are worsening due to mismanagement and skewed distribution of resources.

In response, David Umahi, minister of works, described Kwankwaso’s claim as “misleading and unfair to the president”.

The minister said 52 percent of the total length of Tinubu’s four major road projects is located in the north, compared to 48 percent in the south.

Umahi also pointed to the Sokoto–Badagry superhighway, which has 756 km of its route in the north, as a major federal project under execution.

Also reacting, Sunday Dare, presidential media adviser, said over 40 major projects and programmes were ongoing or sustained in the north under Tinubu.

Dare dismissed the marginalisation claims as politically driven.