The Emir of Katsina, His Royal Highness Alhaji Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, has delivered a blistering rebuke to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign team, warning that no amount of rice or cash will secure the votes of his people in 2027 if the government fails to address the worsening insecurity and hunger ravaging the state.
The confrontation occurred when Senator Abdulaziz Yari, the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for Tinubu’s 2027 bid, led a delegation to the Emir’s palace in Katsina as part of a political mobilisation tour. In a video of the encounter that has gone viral, the monarch did not mince words. “My palace is not a polling centre to visit every four years when pressed during election, only to vanish till another election cycle,” the Emir said.
The royal father painted a grim picture of the suffering in his domain, directly contradicting the campaign’s message of renewed hope. He disclosed that 52 schools in his emirate alone have been closed because of bandits, with a similar number in Doka. He added that farmers cannot go to their farms in 12 local government areas of Katsina, and that people are paying between ten to twenty million naira to the notorious bandit leader Bello Turji and his gang.
The Emir then turned his fire on the campaign delegation. “And you come talking about DG campaign for Tinubu 2027. Should you not be talking about DG security for Katsina 2026? Where is Bello Turji? You promised to handle security. Bello Turji is in the forest, a hundred kilometres from here. Go and bring him, then come and campaign”.
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THE MOMENT EMIR OF KATSINA TOOK @officialABAT tinubu AND HIS CAMPAIGN TEAM TO THE WASHERS
“My palace is not a polling centre to visit every 4years when pressed during election only to vanish till another election cycle.
In my emirate alone, fifty-two schools closed because of… pic.twitter.com/fBwKyzWOrz
— MaziTundeEdnutfan (@originalproflle) October 22, 2026
He warned the APC team that the politics of selfishness would be met with a fierce backlash at the ballot box. “If you are selfish, my people will be selfish with their votes. If you do politics of selfishness only for your family, for your cronies, for your friends, and for your contacts, then people will also do politics of selfishness”. He reminded them that the politics of handouts had failed before and would fail again. “They will collect your rice and vote against you. They will collect five thousand and still vote for who they want. In 2023, you brought rice, you brought money, but Katsina people still split their votes. In 2027, if you bring the same selfish politics, they will collect your money but will not vote for you. And I assure you that”.
The Emir’s remarks have sparked a political firestorm. The Democracy Watch Initiative has attempted to dismiss the account, insisting that the visit was part of a broader engagement with royal institutions to promote peace and unity. The group claimed the narrative of a rebuke was false and pointed to federal government efforts to tackle insecurity, including the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards for Katsina State. However, the video of the Emir’s speech has continued to circulate widely, reinforcing public perception that the traditional institution in the North is losing patience with the Tinubu administration.
The confrontation comes at a delicate time for the President. The Katsina Emirate is a critical political constituency in the North-West, a region that delivered massive votes for the APC in 2023. The Emir’s decision to publicly challenge the campaign team over unfulfilled promises and the deteriorating security situation is a stark reminder of the gap between the government’s rhetoric and the reality on the ground. As the campaign season intensifies, the warning from Katsina is clear: the people of the North are watching, and they will not be silenced by handouts.
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