Nigerians erroneously allowed Bola Ahmed Tinubu to taste power although, through a compromised judgment from the Courts in connivance with the Mahmoud Yakubu led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mahmoud Yakubu and those Justices, who allegedly mortgaged Nigeria for Tinubu, deserve no forgiveness from Nigerians for the roles they played in the emergence of Tinubu as a president in 2023.
Today, Tinubu is too desperate to remain in office for another, four-year tenure despite the heap of mess he consciously heaped on Nigeria. As characteristic of him, he recruited his like minds the most stupid idiots and scandalous Nigerians with dented records to repackage him for another suspected imposition, in the spirit of comradeship. Have a look on the past records of most of those leading the campaign council. It’s a sad story!
We all know that every election campaign has its own cadence and rhythm, an atmosphere that sets it apart. The crucial phase in the struggle for the 2027 presidential election in Nigeria has began on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, with 150 days campaign window running through to January 15, 2027.
This is in line with Section 98 (1) of the 2026 Electoral Act. The campaign period sets the stage for the all important presidential election scheduled for January 16, 2027.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has unveiled a crowded 223-member Presidential Campaign Council with Tinubu himself as Chairman, his vice Kashim Shettima as deputy chairman while Sen. Abdul-Azeez Yari is Director-General and Hope Uzodimma to serve as secretary.
As the incumbent president, it won’t be surprise for pundits to project Tinubu as the front- runner, whose ancient agenda has prevailed within his own party- APC.
That’s why Nigerians patiently listen to surrogates and hustlers declaring the election as all done and dusted. Tinubu’s self-styled Bingo who serves as FCT Minister, Nyeson Wike clownishly bragged that the presidential election would be a “walk over” for his paymaster, Tinubu. That’s typical of Wike who stores no shame as a wandering politician. He has never reckoned with the power of the ballot and the will of the people to decide the outcome of elections. Wike’s kind of gibberish comments runs against the peace of any election and commonsense.
Unknown to Wike, politics is not given to simple theorizing. In a statement unveiling the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Tinubu said, “we have delivered on our campaign promises and set our country on the path of economic progress.” He also claimed that the country is out of the “dark tunnel and now at the cusp of reaping the benefits of a prosperous economy that will benefit all Nigerians.” Since the start of the campaigns, most Nigerians are yet to see any of Tinubu’s concrete accomplishments apart from excruciating poverty and denial to basic necessities of life.
Under the Tinubu presidency, Nigeria is facing something far more dangerous than just political failure. In 2023, he promised “Renewed Hope.” Instead, under his clueless leadership, despair has supplanted hope. Another four more years for same Tinubu will be more catastrophic and unbearable than any human imagination. Has he fixed the power sector that he anchored his re-election four years ago and asked Nigerians to judge with or reject him if he failed to accomplish. “Don’t vote for me if I fail to fix electricity”, he said in one of his campaign speeches in December 2022.
What about insecurity that he promised to contain within six months in office? Hasn’t insecurity become much worse than he inherited? Nigeria has since transformed to a killing field by marauding bandits, kidnappers for ransom, terrorists and tribal militia groups to the extent that no part of the country is safe. Has the economy turned the corner or gone worse under Tinubu? National debt stock has risen to an all-time high of over N159trillion. He promised a GDP growth of 6 percent and failed to stabilize the value of the naira against major foreign currencies to the point that over 300 foreign and domestic companies closed down.
Today, the naira is ranked the 4th worst national currency in the world. Even the Italian Lira has stronger value than the naira. With subsidy removal netting over N15,8 trillion in revenue, has that netted amount improved the living standard of suffering Nigerians? It is left for Nigerians to provide the answer.
Borrowing spree has continued amid debt service surge. It has become a source of feeding the rich and the criminals occupying positions of influence in government, and impoverishing the poor that are called to make sacrifice. It’s therefore, not unkind to say that no elected president in this dispensation has imperiled the country and pauperized the citizens as the Tinubu administration has done in the last three years. No accomplishment to deserve another reelection. Even the most docile Nigerians cannot subscribe to another risk.
Doubts about Tinubu’s competence, capacity and ability to lead the country for another four years are as deep-seated as ever. Under a free and fair election, he’s the most vulnerable of all the presidential candidates put together, regardless of the incumbency factor. The critical question before Nigerians as the elections approach is: Are you better off now than you were before Tinubu became President? It’s a question every voter must answer before casting a vote on January 16, 2027. My own answer even before January 2026 is: I have outgrown any deceit of promise. Reelecting Tinubu is accepting another packaged catastrophe and direct invitation to improved misery.
When former American president Ronald Reagan defeated the then American President Jimmy Carter in the November 1980 presidential election, ten short words proved decisive. Reagan had asked voters in his closing remarks at the presidential debate: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Reagan used that rhetorical question to frame that year’s election campaign as a referendum on the previous four years of the Carter administration, which was plagued by high inflation, energy crisis, and the Iran hostage crisis.
He challenged American voters to evaluate their personal economic wellbeing, national unemployment, America’s global standing, and the country’s security compared to 1976.
Reagan also argued that if the answer to those points he raised was “No”, then the choice for the next president of America was obvious. The question Reagan raised has since become one of the most famous and enduring sound bites in modern political history. It also remains a staple of political discourse. That simple question that resonated so strongly with American voters 46 years ago has resurfaced ahead of Nigeria’s most consequential presidential election in 2027.
Under the Tinubu clueless presidency, Nigerians are worse-off than they were three years ago under Buhari. Without a doubt, this is the worst period Nigerians are facing since the democratic dispensation, 27 years ago. Poverty has become a tool of control under the Tinubu style of governance.
Citizens are systematically and consciously transformed to beggars for crumbs labeled as palliatives, while impatient ones are pushed to kidnapping for ransom and banditry. I most sincerely support the opinion of Peter Gregory Obi, NDC Presidential candidate who challenged other contesting presidential candidates to come forward and defend their records and answer questions about their capacity to govern a country like Nigeria. Tinubu would be the last to accept participating in such an exercise because of emptiness.
Gregory Obi said no presidential candidate should hide behind the high walls of power or rely on proxies and surrogates during the 150 days campaign. Truly, Nigerians deserve to hear directly from those seeking their mandate. Such leaders should subject their records, credentials and policy proposals to public scrutiny. Nigeria should not be made to look like Paul Biya’s Cameroun who never appeared in public, yet was declared winner of the presidential election.
Leadership requires physical presence of mind and empathy. That’s what Nigerians expect every candidate to do, including Tinubu. A leader seeking political office should lead from the front, not from the rear. That’s what it means to be a Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces not Armed Bndits.
Tinubu should dispel insinuations that he doesn’t have the physical energy required for a rigorous campaign and debate. He should be honest with Nigerians bt telling them why he deserves their mandate for a second term amid the popular opinion that the country needs a new direction and a brand new leadership with sincerity.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
