Arewa Youth Consultative Forum warns that Peter Obi will get next to no votes in northern Nigeria

AREWA Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) president Yerima Shettima has expressed fears that the Labour Party's presidential candidate Peter Obi may end up with little or no votes in northern Nigeria during the forthcoming elections.

In February, Nigeria goes to the polls and the frontrunners in the presidential race include former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and Peter Obi. Of late, former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, has been stepped up his campaign but Mr Shettima says he is not convinced it will yield results.

According to Mr Shettima, the votes from the north would be divided between Asiwaju Tinubu of the APC, Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP and Senator Kwankwaso of the NNPP. He added that Governor Obi’s followers have not done enough work in northern Nigeria to get votes there.

Mr Shettima said: “The vote of the north will be divided between Tinubu, Atiku and Kwankwaso. Peter Obi will get little or nothing in the north, not because he is an Igbo man but because so many factors are involved.

“Not because he lacks the competence, but his lieutenants have not done enough work in the northern part of the country." He also insisted that the 2023 elections will hold, warning that any attempt to undermine the polls would be resisted.