The Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation has announced the postponement of its highly anticipated two-day interactive session originally scheduled for 20 and 21 May 2025, in Kaduna.
The event, aimed at evaluating President Bola Tinubu’s administration ahead of the 2027 general elections, will now hold on 24 and 25 June 2025.
The new date was confirmed on Tuesday in a response from the foundation’s secretariat in Kaduna following inquiries by The PUNCH.
The foundation had earlier announced that the session was designed to review the progress made on the administration’s electoral promises, enhance government-citizen engagement, and promote transparency and accountability across the country.
In a statement on 5 May 2025, the foundation’s Director-General, Abubakar Umar, stated that the session would serve to bridge the gap between policy implementation and public perception, dispel misinformation, and address misconceptions about the President Tinubu administration’s initiatives.
Umar explained that the session would examine President Tinubu administration’s performance across various sectors, including efforts to enhance national security and stability, initiatives to boost agricultural productivity and ensure food security, and developments in physical infrastructure, healthcare, and education.
It will also review policies aimed at fostering economic growth, transparency, and effective governance.
‘This landmark event builds on the foundation’s successful engagement on 17 October 2022, where frontline presidential candidates, including then-candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, presented their manifestos and made commitments toward the development of Northern Nigeria’, Umar noted.
A new statement from the Director-General’s office on Tuesday cited the ongoing Hajj operations across the region and the country as the reason for the rescheduling.
‘The programme has been shifted to 24 and 25 June 2025, due to Hajj. We have already commenced issuing invitation letters for the new date’, the foundation stated via its official WhatsApp platform.
The statement further advised that a formal press release would be issued two weeks into June, noting that the contents would largely remain the same apart from the updated dates.
The foundation’s move comes amid a similar initiative by the Arewa Consultative Forum, which recently announced plans to set up a special committee to evaluate the impact of President Tinubu’s policies on northern Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections.
The Chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, disclosed this during the Forum’s meeting in Kaduna.
He emphasised that the North would only support politicians and parties that align with its interests.
‘As a matter of fact, we have received proposals from some of our elders that this body appoint a special committee to conduct a detailed review of the policies, projects, and programs of the current government and determine how they impact various parts of the country, particularly northern Nigeria’, Dalhatu said.
‘For the avoidance of doubt, we must reiterate our faith in the principle that all politics is local. northern Nigeria will remain faithful not to particular politicians or parties but to those who care about our regional interests and are willing to promote and protect them’.
