By Omeiza Ajayi
Director General of the All Progressives Congress APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, on Monday led a delegation to meet Muslim clerics across the North as part of consultations with faith-based stakeholders ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The tour, which began in Jos, Plateau State, took Yari and his team to Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi states, where they met leaders of the Izala, Tijjaniyya, Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) and Qadiriyya sects to seek the clerics’ support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Accompanying the former Zamfara State governor were former APC National Chairman Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; former Kebbi State Governor, Senator Adamu Aliero; Senator Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura; APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru; former Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; Honourable James Abiodun Faleke; and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase.
In Jos, the delegation was received by the Chairman of the Council of Ulama of JIBWIS, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, while in Bauchi, they met the Khalifa of the Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi Zawiya, Sheikh Ibrahim Dahiru Bauchi, who prayed for Tinubu and urged that dialogue between the state and the religious community be sustained rather than seasonal.
In Kaduna, Yari held extended talks with the National Chairman of the Kaduna faction of JIBWIS, Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, on issues including security, economic hardship, and sustaining mutual trust among communities of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Sheikh Bala Lau commended Yari for extending a hand of fellowship, but urged leaders at every level to listen more and engage the people with sincerity.
The consultations concluded in Kano, where Yari met the leader of the Qadiriyya movement, Sheikh Qaribullahi Nasiru Kabara, who offered special prayers for peace in Nigeria and for the success of the council’s work, and urged the delegation to carry the message of unity to every corner of the federation.
