The Vice-Chancellor of Kaduna State University, Professor Abdullahi Musa, has said the endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term by more than 600 senior academics from public universities in Northern Nigeria was based on their assessment of data on his administration’s performance.
Musa said the academics reviewed developments in key sectors, including education, infrastructure, investment and agriculture, before arriving at their position.
He made this known during an appearance on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Tuesday.
According to the vice-chancellor, the gathering was not organised primarily to endorse Tinubu. Rather, he said, it provided a platform for academics to examine available data, analyse the findings and make recommendations.
“What the meeting indicated is that it is an avenue whereby academics will come together to identify specific data, analyse the data, and then provide an analysis using systematic methodology, and recommend the way forward,” Musa said.
He said data covering various sectors, including infrastructure, education and agriculture, were presented and analysed during the meeting.
Musa also cited government spending on education, saying the impact of some of the interventions could be seen at Kaduna State University.
“If you look at development in education, the Bola Tinubu administration has expended billions of naira in support of education, and if you look at my university alone, our students receive over N1 billion in support,” he said.
He also pointed to infrastructure projects at the university, saying the institution had received significant support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and the National Sports Commission.
The endorsement has, however, attracted criticism from the African Democratic Congress, which has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission not to engage academics who endorsed Tinubu as returning officers for the 2027 election.
Musa was also asked whether the views of the 600 academics could be regarded as representative of lecturers across Northern Nigeria.
In response, he said individual academics remained free to hold different views, adding that the participating lecturers had expressed their opinions both individually and collectively.
He acknowledged that other academics could have different positions on the performance of the Tinubu administration and the 2027 election.
