*As APC Prepares Tinubu For Second Coronation
Despite the adoption of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the consensus presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2027 general election, as well as his endorsement by the Zonal Congresses and National Convention respectively, political pundits and opposition parties still believe that if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would conduct a credible election in 2027, Tinubu might not have an opportunity to retain the number one citizen seat at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa due to his unpopular government that creates existential challenges crushing the masses
By Our Correspondent
Despite the killings, the uproar and hardship that characterize his government, he is visibly pursuing his second term ambition with recklessness. His moves are likened to that of tsunami waiting to happen, ready to crush everything on his way to retain the number one position in Aso Rock Villa come 2027. He deploys money, he allegedly deploys bribery. He deploys intimidation. He deploys arrests of notable opposition politicians, especially those who have allegedly soiled their fingers in the muddy waters of corruption. His foot soldiers even deploy assassination attempts in their desperation to cow his more acceptable contestants for the presidential election.
That is the position incumbent President Bola Tinubu occupies in the minds of many electorate in the recent times. Analysts stressed that all the heads and leadership of state institutions almost cringe at the mention of President Tinubu’s name, and they are allegedly at his beck and call, doing his biddings whether such benefits the nation or not. These also claimed that Tinubu has transmuted into an emperor of sorts, the ultimate ruler to whom every lesser mortal must succumb to his whims and caprices, and, unfortunately, world’s most respected rulers appear to stand with him in his quest to retain the presidency in 2027.
Yet, many argued that it seems Tinubu’s pursuit of his second term ambition has beclouded his vision of the rots in the system, including the hardship, killings and the darkness which has covered the land due to failed electricity supply which he promised would define his rulership.
Again, political analysts have claimed that Tinubu is not mindful of disrupting the electoral processes to drive home his second term ambition even when it appeared as if the heavens would fall. This, his critics insisted, is because in Tinubu’s political philosophy, political power is not served al carte to candidates of opposition who crave free and fair election, rather political power must be snatched through violence and election rigging, and run away with.
Critics of President Tinubu government maintained that legacies which guide reputable governments in sane climes sound abominable in the ears of Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC). To the government of the day, critics insist, opposition must be cowed, elder statesmen silenced, the masses traumatized by hardship, hunger and subjugated by terror groups.
But the handlers of President Tinubu, on their part, maintained that some cheap outings such as a common handshake with a new Pope and invitation to the Royal Palace at Buckingham, United Kingdom (UK), constitute major accomplishments of the administration in spite of the daily killings and kidnappings and ransom demands ravaging the country. For example, recently, in March 2026, some insurgents who abducted worshippers in Kwara State have demanded for a ransom payment of one billion naira before they would release their victims. Only heaven knows, critics contend, what will be the fate of the abductees. At present, many citizens have raised many posers for the incumbent administration such as, “Is Tinubu government a saviour, builder of the country or a destroyer?” “Did Tinubu ‘snatch power’ only for the benefit of the elite?” “How will he leave Nigeria, prosperous or brutally wounded at the end of his reign?”
As President Tinubu pursues his second term ambition with all sense of aggression, the country has become practically a killing field especially in parts of the Northern regions where insurgency is raging like wild fire. Besides unending security threats in the country, the war in the Middle east between the United States (US) and Israel on one side and Iran on the other side, has caused the increase in the price fuel which has caused spike in the prices of other things. This has increased the hardship being felt by the masses without a corresponding effort from government to cushion the effects.
Tinubu’s raw strategy to be (s)elected the second term as president, many analysts claim, is devoid of any element of decorum and subtilty. According to them, it involves the brazen iron claws that manifest in the destruction of the opposition parties such as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP). This, they claimed, was achieved by planting surrogates who infiltrated the parties and destabilized them, leaving only the president’s party, the APC as the only vibrant political party in the country. Observers also alleged that the new African Democratic Congress (ADC) may have been lying low due to the fear of infiltration. The government has also instilled fear in the opposition through the arrests of formidable opposition politicians, including the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El’Rufai, and former Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami.
Through this method, President Tinubu government may have succeeded in making Nigeria a one-party democracy where the opposition has been decimated. At the last count, the APC boasts of 32 governors in its fold preparatory to next year’s presidential election.
At its recent Zonal Congresses and National Convention which held last week, and used the consensus method to select its state and national leaders, the APC across the six regions merely endorsed Tinubu as the only presidential candidate of the party for the presidential election of next year. Besides, Tinubu’s reelection structures are making waves across the country. These include the Tinubu support group, the City Boys and the Renewed Hope Agenda, all three have claimed that the sitting President has been accepted by over 90 percent of the electorate to continue his unpopular reign beyond 2026. However, there is no specific data or empirical evidence to sustain such arguments. Pundits argued that the reason for such humongous support claim for Tinubu across the regions is because as the APC and the alleged partial Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allegedly prepare to manipulate the electoral process again come 2027 in favour of the ruling party, such claim would be deployed by APC to counter any claim by the opposition parties that the forthcoming election was manipulated. They further argued that the claim of 90 per cent support base for Tinubu reelection is a decoy to hoodwink the uninitiated.
For example, in a recent interview on Arise News Television Morning Show, Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi had claimed that 90 per cent of the electorate in the South east region has adopted Tinubu as their candidate for the 2027 presidential election. When requested to show the data or empirical evidence, he was unable to show such evidence but resorted to reeling out alleged unprecedented projects cited in the region by the incumbent government.
Senator Nwaebonyi is not alone in this claim, late last year and early 2026, Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra State respectively claimed that South east electorate have endorsed Tinubu’s second term. Soludo also added that his party All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) would not field a candidate for the 2027 presidential election because the entire South east region has endorsed Tinubu for second term.
Amidst all these which critics regard as crude means to achieve reelection, Tinubu and his APC are still sore afraid of a free, fair or credible election in 2027 because a recent survey suggested that majority of the citizens have rejected Tinubu’s reelection especially in the North west and North east and are ready to vote them out of office.
For example, on Saturday, March 14, 2026, members of one of Tinubu support groups which is promoted by his son Seyi and goes by the name City Boys, were violently chased out of Owerri, the Imo State capital when they came to share campaign items to APC supporters in the South east. The items City Boys brought to share were looted and carted away by South east youths and members of the Home Boys, a variant of the City Boys group loyal to Peter Obi. Eventually, City Boys organisers and Seyi Tinubu escaped attacks by whiskers.
The fear of the APC for a credible election came to the fore in the adoption of a new Electoral Act 2023, during which the party resisted the inclusion of the compulsory electronic transmission of election results real time. On his part, President Tinubu promptly gave his assent in less than 24 hours to the amazement of pundits.
The clause in the Electoral Act 2026 that both electronic and manual collation of results can be used for the 2027 general election is viewed by many as a leeway for the APC to manipulate the results of the election in favour of Tinubu and other APC candidates during next year election.
Tentacle’s investigation revealed that the opposition ADC is not resting on its oars in wresting power from the APC but the former is being discreet in revealing its strategies to the ruling party. Example is the recent alliance the ADC is forming with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, which is speculated to result in the pairing of Peter Obi and Kwankwaso as the presidential flag bearer and running mate on the ADC platform respectively. Should this alliance materialize, analysts opined, Tinubu may find it extremely difficult to win a credible presidential election in 2027.
On the APC alleged plot to rig the upcoming general election for Tinubu and others, some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and rights groups have insisted that they would make it difficult for rigging to succeed in the next election. For example, the Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), recently warned that Nigeria’s democracy would be under threat if the APC made any attempt to manipulate the 2027 elections because of the flaws in the Electoral Act.
Addressing the media on Sunday, March 15, 2026, leader of the MCE, Pat Utomi, said, “It is with a solemn sense of duty that we address you as darkness threatens to envelop us through manipulations of the 2026 Electoral Act, which reveal a reckless desperation by those in power, whose every move suggests fear of the electorate at the ballot box. This last week they simply went too far.
“Recent trends by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Presidency could undermine the legitimacy of the state.
“Given the feverish level at which the constitution is being violated, if voices of reason are not heard now and this current mischief is allowed to continue, we may witness the collapse of our cherished democracy.’’
On the issue of voter apathy due to previous election manipulations, Utomi said, “Inclination to vote, as the recent Abuja elections show, is now below 10 per cent of those registered to vote. Once the people decide their vote is pointless, the stage is set for ‘voting’ with their feet and ways of violence and self-help.”
Utomi outlined the civil society group’s plans to safeguard credible elections, saying “we plan to get several civil society groups to set up independent IREVs, to which party agents will upload photographed Form EC8A immediately after they are signed.
‘’These will be transmitted to dashboards in newsrooms of global and local television stations.
We plan to recruit vote marshals who shall be former military and police personnel, trained and deployed to every polling station in the country.
‘’We will also commence massive voter education and mobilisation to shake citizens out of apathy and train them on how to protect their vote.”
“We call on elders of the land, traditional rulers, and religious leaders to speak with one voice to preserve the peace and integrity of Nigeria’s democracy.
“The people must stand up now to save the future for their children. Nigeria cannot be pushed into politics of power erosion that will suffocate the legitimacy of the state.”
