The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said that many politicians whom President Bola Tinubu supported over the years withdrew their backing when he declared his intention to contest the presidency in 2023.

Yilwatda spoke on Friday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja while welcoming members of opposition parties from Sokoto, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kano and Plateau states who defected to the APC.

He said Tinubu had supported several politicians from the North and South before seeking the presidency, but many of them abandoned him when he needed their support.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has always supported northern politicians because he believes in the unity of Nigeria,” Yilwatda said.

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He cited Tinubu’s support for Atiku Abubakar in 2007, when the latter contested the presidency, and Nuhu Ribadu, who ran under the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011.

Yilwatda also recalled Tinubu’s support for former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019.

“He has consistently worked to bring politicians together and promote unity across the country,” Yilwatda said.

According to him, Tinubu stood by Buhari even when some northern political leaders withdrew their support.

Yilwatda urged the new APC members to support Tinubu and his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, describing their defection as a sign of confidence in the President.

He also defended Tinubu’s performance in the North, listing the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano road, the Kano–Maiduguri road and rail projects among the infrastructure initiatives he said were being pursued by the Federal Government.

The APC chairman criticised opposition politicians for questioning Tinubu’s achievements in the region, insisting that the administration had invested in infrastructure across the country.

He also challenged opposition proposals, including a promised N500-per-litre fuel discount, arguing that the plan would cost about N20 trillion annually.

“How can you promise what you do not have when about 60 per cent of our oil production is tied to joint ventures, where the Federal Government owns only part of the production?” Yilwatda said.

He further accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of selling public assets below their construction costs during the privatisation exercise.

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From losing his parents at 8 to becoming the man he dreamed of becoming.

JOS GHETTO STORIES

YOUR BEGINNING IS NOT YOUR ENDING.

There are children growing up in Jos today who are quietly carrying dreams bigger than their circumstances.

Some are going to school without enough food.

Some are sharing textbooks.

Some are being raised by relatives.

Some have lost one or both parents.

Some live in places where people have already decided what they can and cannot become.

And some have heard the painful words:

“People like you don’t make it.”

But this story is for them.

This is the story of Dung.

A story about loss.

A story about struggle.

A story about faith.

And most importantly, a story about refusing to give up.

AT EIGHT, LIFE CHANGED FOREVER

Dung was only eight years old when tragedy came knocking.

He was a bright little boy growing up in Jos with a simple but powerful dream.

He wanted to become a medical doctor.

His parents, Gyang and Kaneng, were his world.

They were not wealthy.

They could not give him everything he wanted.

But they gave him something far more valuable:

Love.

Hope.

Encouragement.

And the belief that their little boy could become somebody great.

Dung believed them.

He believed in the future.

He believed in himself.

Then, one terrible afternoon, everything changed.

A tragic car accident claimed the lives of both his parents.

In a single moment, Dung became an orphan.

The home that once carried his mother’s voice suddenly became quiet.

The father who encouraged him to study was no longer there to ask about his books.

The little boy who should have been thinking about football, cartoons and childhood adventures suddenly had to learn about grief, hunger and survival.

At only eight years old.

WHEN LIFE BECAME A STRUGGLE

Dung moved in with relatives.

His uncle, Chuwang, did everything he could to support him.

His aunt, Lydia cared for him as though he were her own son.

Neighbours like Gyang and Chundung also looked out for him whenever they could.

But despite the love around him, life remained difficult.

There were days Dung went to school hungry.

There were days he didn’t have the books he needed.

There were days he watched other children enjoy the things he couldn’t afford.

And there were nights when he probably wondered why life had chosen him for such pain.

Some people saw his circumstances and saw limitations.

Some laughed.

Some doubted him.

Some told him to forget about becoming a doctor.

“Dung, with your background? Doctor?”

They looked at the boy’s situation and thought they already knew his future.

But they made one mistake.

They judged his destination by his present condition.

They didn’t know what was inside the boy.

They didn’t know about the dream.

They didn’t know about the determination.

And they didn’t know that Dung had already made a decision.

His circumstances would not become his identity.

“MAMA, PAPA… I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD.”

Whenever things became difficult, Dung remembered his parents.

He remembered their faces.

He remembered their sacrifices.

And somewhere in his heart, he carried a promise:

“Mama, Papa… I will make you proud.”

So he kept going.

He studied under difficult conditions.

Sometimes under a dim bulb.

Sometimes with borrowed textbooks.

Sometimes with almost nothing except determination.

While others played, Dung read.

When people laughed, he kept learning.

When disappointment came, he prayed.

When one door closed, he searched for another.

And when he couldn’t find a door, he kept knocking.

Because he understood something many people never learn:

You don’t need perfect circumstances to pursue an imperfectly difficult dream.

You just need the courage to keep moving.

THE JOURNEY WAS NOT EASY

The years passed.

Primary school became secondary school.

Secondary school became university.

But the journey was not a straight road.

There were failures.

There were disappointments.

There were moments when Dung questioned himself.

There were moments when giving up seemed easier than continuing.

But every time life pushed him down, he remembered that little eight-year-old boy.

The boy who had lost his parents.

The boy who had cried.

The boy who had struggled.

The boy who had once looked at the future without knowing how he would get there.

And Dung told himself:

“I cannot give up on that boy.”

So he continued.

One day at a time.

One examination at a time.

One challenge at a time.

One prayer at a time.

One step at a time.

THEN CAME THE DAY

After years of struggle, sacrifice, learning and perseverance, the moment finally arrived.

Dung walked into a hospital.

But this time, he wasn’t walking in as the struggling little boy from Jos.

He was wearing a white medical coat.

He had become a medical doctor.

For a moment, perhaps everything became silent.

The struggles.

The hunger.

The tears.

The rejection.

The borrowed books.

The difficult nights.

The questions.

The doubts.

The people who said it couldn’t happen.

All of it suddenly became part of the past.

Dung stood there and remembered his parents.

The dream of an eight-year-old boy had finally become reality.

The boy who lost almost everything had found his purpose.

HE DIDN’T BECOME GREAT BECAUSE LIFE WAS EASY

Dung’s story teaches us something powerful:

Greatness is not always born in comfort.

Sometimes greatness is born in pain.

Sometimes it is built in silence.

Sometimes it grows in places where nobody expects anything extraordinary to come from.

Dung didn’t become great because he had every advantage.

He became great because he refused to allow his disadvantages to define him.

His beginning was painful.

But his beginning was not his ending.

TO EVERY CHILD IN JOS

To the boy in Gangare who thinks his circumstances are too difficult…

Keep going.

To the girl in Nasarawa who has a dream but doesn’t know how she will achieve it…

Keep learning.

To the child in Angwan Rogo who goes to school hungry…

Don’t let hunger convince you that you have no future.

To the child in Jenta, Congo, Bukuru, Rayfield, Terminus, Tudun Wada, Kabong or any other community across Jos and Plateau…

Your postcode does not determine your destiny.

You may not have the best shoes.

You may not have the newest phone.

You may not have wealthy parents.

You may not have connections.

You may not have everything your classmates have.

But you have something powerful:

THE ABILITY TO DREAM.

And as long as you can dream, learn, work, pray and keep moving, your story is still being written.

DON’T LET PEOPLE WRITE YOUR STORY FOR YOU

People may look at where you come from and tell you what you cannot become.

They may laugh at your dream.

They may reject you.

They may underestimate you.

They may remind you of your past.

They may use your struggles to mock you.

They may even tell you that people like you don’t succeed.

Don’t believe them.

Not because success is guaranteed.

But because your present circumstances are not enough information to determine your future.

Only God knows the full story.

TO THE CHILD WHO IS ABOUT TO GIVE UP

Before you quit, remember Dung.

Before you say, “I can’t,” remember how far someone can travel from a painful beginning.

Before you throw away your books, remember that education can become a bridge to places your present circumstances cannot take you.

Before you conclude that your life is over, remember:

You are still becoming.

Your story is still being written.

This chapter may be painful.

But it is only a chapter.

It is not the whole book.

YOUR PRESENT IS NOT YOUR DESTINATION

Maybe today you are struggling.

Maybe today nobody believes in you.

Maybe today you are living with relatives.

Maybe today you don’t have enough.

Maybe today you have failed an examination.

Maybe today you are looking at your life and wondering:

“Will I ever become somebody?”

The answer is:

Keep going.

Trust God.

Trust the process.

Keep learning.

Keep working.

Keep praying.

Keep showing up.

Keep improving.

Keep believing.

Because sometimes, the very place where people expect you to remain broken becomes the place from which your greatest story begins.

DEAR CHILD OF JOS…

One day, you may become the doctor who saves lives.

The engineer who builds bridges.

The teacher who changes generations.

The lawyer who fights for justice.

The entrepreneur who employs hundreds.

The farmer who feeds communities.

The artist who takes Jos to the world.

The athlete who makes Plateau proud.

The scientist who discovers something that changes lives.

The leader who transforms society.

Or perhaps something nobody around you has even imagined yet.

Don’t allow today’s struggle to make you abandon tomorrow’s possibility.

Your parents’ financial situation is not your destiny.

Your neighbourhood is not your destiny.

Your past mistakes are not your destiny.

Your failures are not your destiny.

Your present pain is not your destiny.

You are still becoming.

**DUNG’S STORY STARTED WITH TRAGEDY…

BUT IT DIDN’T END THERE.**

It ended with purpose.

And that is the message of Jos Ghetto Stories:

Your beginning is not your ending.

There are greatness stories hiding in the streets of Jos.

There are future doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, innovators and leaders growing up in places the world may overlook.

Some of them are struggling today.

Some of them are crying today.

Some of them are being underestimated today.

But one day…

they may be the very people the world celebrates.

So, to every child in Jos and Plateau State:

Dream.

Learn.

Pray.

Work.

Believe.

Keep moving.

And when life tells you that you cannot…

Show life that it doesn’t get the final word.

❤️ Trust God. Trust the Process.

JOS TO THE WORLD!

Jos Ghetto Stories — Because every street has a story, and every child deserves a chance at greatness.

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