•Urges INEC to declare seats of defecting Delta, Kebbi lawmakers vacant

The League of Northern Democrats (LND), a political movement in Nigeria, established by a coalition of Northern Nigerian elites—including former governors, senators, academics, and business leaders, yesterday resolved to support the opposition against President Bola Tinubu‘s re-election in 2027.

The group which aims to address the socio-economic and political challenges facing Northern Nigeria, in a communiqué, also demanded that federal lawmakers that recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Delta and Kebbi should exit the National Assembly or be thrown out.

In the communiqué released after a meeting at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, the group, convened by Dr Umar Ardo and chaired by former Kano state Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, further resolved to engage the 19 Northern governors on what they described as their seeming inertia to the ‘terrible situation’ in the North.

“The League of Northern Democrats held a meeting chaired by its chairman, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, with 147 members attending. After intensive discussions the following resolutions were adopted.

“We approved our constitution and minutes of previous meetings and directed the legal adviser to conclude the process of the registration of LND as an association; we approved the leadership of the LND as attached; we resolved to support the National Opposition Coalition Group chaired by Senator President David Mark in driving the transitional politics towards the 2027 general elections;

“We resolved to contribute in the dialogue on either registering a new political party or fuse into an existing one. We resolved that our first option is to register a new party in order to accommodate many independent members of the larger established political parties who currently feel reluctant to move into a smaller party but who are willing to move out to form a new party,” the group said.

Besides, the group said on the alternative, it would  fuse into an existing party as a primary and necessary alternative, resolving to coordinate a meeting of a larger various northern groups as agreed a few weeks ago in the ACF meeting in Kaduna to solidify northern positions.

“We resolve to mobilise Northern Nigerians to pressure the government, particularly the National Assembly leadership, to uphold the provisions of the constitution which they swore to do.

“To this end, we resolve to mobilise Nigerians to a civil resistance against the leaderships of NASS to force them to declare the seats of all the legislators in Delta and Kebbi states who cross carpeted to other political parties as stipulated by sections of the constitution,” the organisation added.

It further decried the deepening poverty in Northern Nigeria, maintaining that it will soon meet with the 19 governors of the region on the situation, with a view to improving on the quality of life of the people.

“We resolved to engage the 19 Northern governors on their seeming inertia to the terrible situation in the North – endemic poverty, state of destitution of our people, insecurity, unemployment, and the appalling economic crisis in the region, which we concluded is as a result of poor governance at the state and local government levels,” the league explained.