Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has accused some supporters of President Bola Tinubu of insulting northerners during the 2023 campaign, as reported by Daily Post on Tuesday, 12 August, 2025.
Lawal said the incident happened after Tinubu made his famous “emi lokan” statement in Ogun State.
He explained that he was part of an online platform created to support Tinubu’s presidential bid.
According to Lawal, soon after the statement, some members of the platform began making derogatory remarks about northerners.
He alleged that they called northerners illiterate and uneducated.
Lawal said he found the comments offensive because they came from people who would later depend on northern votes to win the election.
He said he reminded them that their victory could only be achieved with the support of the same people they were insulting.
The former APC chieftain claimed that this attitude reflected a deeper problem.
He alleged that when Yoruba politicians receive support from others and eventually win, they sometimes act as if they have conquered their allies.
He said such behaviour makes those who supported them feel unacknowledged and disrespected.
Lawal warned that this kind of political arrogance damages relationships and unity within the country.
He also criticised the current administration’s ethnic composition.
He claimed that most key positions in the government were given to people from the same ethnic group, which he said creates exclusion and weakens trust.
“When we were doing the campaign, after Tinubu went to Ogun and said ’emi lokan,’ there was a Bola Tinubu platform in which I was participating.
They started insulting us, saying that northerners are illiterate. So I wrote on that platform that these are the people whose votes we would need,” he said.
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