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Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), officially flagged off his campaign early in October 2022. He has since hopped across the country for his unifier mission.
But what exactly has he been up to?
How has his campaign fared so far?
Well, the answer depends on who you ask. His fans have called his style of campaign unique and focused. His haters think he’s in last position in a three-horse race for the crown. But this is a former vice president of Nigeria we’re talking about and a massive crowd of supporters turned up for the flag-off of his campaign.
The biggest problem for Atiku’s campaign is he has enemies from within trying to pour sand in his garri.
On October 25, 2022, the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, his fellow party member, publicly withdrew his support for Atiku for “dishonoring him” and working against the interests of his state. This withdrawal is connected to Atiku’s messy feud with Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State.
Wike is yet to forgive Atiku’s transgressions since he lost the party’s ticket to him. So, it’s no surprise that every day is WW III with those two.
On his most recent campaign stop in Edo State, Atiku said his number one priority, if elected president, would be Nigeria’s unity. But it’s difficult to overlook the irony that he can’t unite his own party.
Where was Atiku last seen?
On October 25, 2022, Atiku visited residents of Bayelsa State affected by the floods that have devastated many parts of Nigeria. The candidate didn’t just show up with love and light, but also some cash — he donated ₦55 million towards the welfare of the victims.
Call him Mr Owonikoko
Atiku blamed climate change for the floods which have killed over 600 Nigerians in 2022. He called on the government to set up a relief fund to assist the victims who have lost their homes and sources of livelihood.
So where next for the unifier?
According to his campaign timetable, Atiku is expected to address the Commonwealth of Nations in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2022. He would then move his presidential campaign to Ekiti State on November 1, and neighbouring Ondo State on November 2.
The candidate’s expected to tour the remaining states in Nigeria before the presidential election holds on February 25, 2023. For his sake, we hope he manages to put his home in order or there may be some serious consequences.
Since he won the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in June 2022, all we heard from Bola Tinubu was that it was his turn to be president. But on October 21, 2022, he finally released a manifesto titled Renewed Hope 2023 to back up his entitled “emi lokan” campaign.
Tinubu promised that his manifesto would provide the “true and innovative solutions” that Nigeria needs to address its challenges, so we had to read this 80-page document so you don’t have to.
Here are some of the interesting things we found that Tinubu has promised to do for Nigerians if he becomes president in 2023.
No more police guards for VIPs
It’s not a secret that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is understaffed. Yet, many of the ones we currently have are acting as bodyguards for the highest bidder. They even help their VIP clients carry handbags sometimes.
But Tinubu’s manifesto promises to free police officers from being guards for VIPs if he becomes president. The VIP guard and bag-carrying job will now go to officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) while the NPF undergoes critical reform.
What it means for Nigerians
Nigeria is suffering from insecurity on a scale that’s never been seen before. We need police officers to be fighting crime, not acting as glorified guards. But Nigerians shouldn’t hold their breaths for this promise because every Inspector-General of Police (IGP) since 1914 and even Buhari have tried and failed to make this change happen.
The import substitution plan
Remember how Buhari has been hostile towards importation and even has a ban list for the importation of certain items like rice? Well, Tinubu’s manifesto promises to follow in his footsteps and discourage reliance on imports through policy measures like luxury taxes and higher tariffs. Buhari tried border closure at some point, so we wouldn’t be surprised if that’s on the table for Tinubu too.
What it means for Nigerians
Tinubu’s anti-import plan promises to incentivise international brands to set up manufacturing plants in Nigeria. The manifesto also notes that there’ll be support for local manufacturing and production. But if we’ve learnt anything from Buhari’s anti-import policies over the past seven years, there’s a lot to fear about this part of Tinubu’s manifesto.
The agbado master cemented his love for ‘cassava, garri, ewa” and other crops with the promise to establish a commodity board. The major objective of the board is to control the prices of staple crops.
Tinubu believes price control will help Nigerian farmers gain their daily ₦2k for their business.
What it means for Nigerians
Nigeria doesn’t have a good history with price-fixing and there’s little to suggest Tinubu’s plan won’t fail the economy like the others in the past. Let’s see how things turn out.
The content creators’ plan
If you thought Buhari’s attempts to regulate social media were bad, wait until you hear about Tinubu’s plan for content creators if he becomes president. The candidate plans to create a Presidential Creative Industry Advisory Team which would review the legislative framework of the creative industry.
What it means for Nigerians
Tinubu says the goal of this plan is to create a better business environment for Nigerian creatives, but we’ve seen all the memes about him and won’t put social media regulation attempts past him.
The inflation plan that’s not really a plan
In his manifesto, Tinubu has found a revolutionary action plan for inflation that’s certain to change Nigeria’s economy. That solution, ladies and gentlemen, is to study inflation.
One fact is clear — the number of women in Nigeria’s political space is very low.
Tinubu wants to address this and has promised to allocate 35% of all government positions to women. He even plans to strongly encourage private institutions to reserve a minimum number of senior positions for women. Who knew Tinubu is such a feminist?
What it means for Nigerians
If this plan works, we may be seeing more women becoming senators, and governors, and maybe even sitting in Aso Rock Villa.
The only issue with the plan is it’s only offering women 35% when they’re half of the population. Why can’t important government positions be split 50-50 between both genders?
With Nigeria’s campaign season hitting top gear, we’re seeing the leading candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), beginning to feel the heat, providing entertainment that is unmatched in both hilarity and cringe value.
Our story begins in Kaduna, where on Saturday, October 14, 2022, Atiku met with the Arewa Joint Committee. The meeting was billed as an interactive session ahead of the 2023 presidential election. Donning his customary full-flowing agbada and what looked like sneakers (perhaps to appeal to his youth base), Atiku took the mic to answer a question posed by the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. The question itself was innocent enough, but Atiku’s response set off a tsunami of reactions online, revisiting old worries about tribalism and dog-whistling in Nigerian politics.
Atiku’s “emi lokan” moment
Baba-Ahmed asked Atiku why the North should support his candidacy. The candidate began by talking about how he had “traversed the whole of this country and built bridges”. However, in the words that followed, Atiku stepped on a landmine, or what one political commentator called his “emi lokan moment”.
The former vice-president said, “I think what the average northerner needs is someone who is from the North, and who also understands the other parts of Nigeria, and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country. This is what the northerner needs. He doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs.”
Given that Atiku is the most experienced candidate by virtue of being a serial contender, it smacks of sheer disbelief that he would make that statement in full glare of the cameras. The self-styled “unifier” for whom his supporters describe themselves as “Atikulate”, clearly didn’t win plaudits from the South with that comment, in what can at best be spinned as a “misarticulation”, and at worst, succumbing to the demands of what has been a flailing campaign.
The audacity of the BAT
What Atiku can do, the BAT can do better (or worse). Still in Kaduna, a place that apparently encourages loose lips, Tinubu updated his thriving catalogue of controversies with another hit.
Tinubu was speaking at the 7th edition of the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit. Not to be outdone by Atiku, he said, “I’m begging Nasiru El-Rufai not to run away for (an) additional degree. Your vision, creativity and resiliency in turning a rotten situation into a bad one is necessary at this critical time.”
Following online taunts over the gaffe, Tinubu’s campaign team issued a statement describing the comment as a “slip of tongue”. That hasn’t quelled things though. Some critics are doubling down that it reveals the true sentiments that BAT has about El-Rufai. For others, it reignites fears that BAT suffers from dementia.
Because Tinubu rarely appears publicly to discuss his plans for Nigerians, the few times he does are always subjected to scrutiny and there is almost always a soundbite that generates wild reactions online — take your pick from anywhere between “emi lokan” and cassava and agbado. If he wasn’t running for president, BAT certainly has enough material to be a skitmaker.
A presidential election of slips
As we approach the elections, there will be no shortage of slips and gaffes from your faves. Today, it’s Atiku and BAT, but it could also be Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso or Omoyele Sowore tomorrow. Whatever the case, we’ll continue to bring you the latest happenings in Nigeria’s political terrain. It’s going to be a long four months before the 2023 presidential election.
Election season is upon us and we’ve never had a more interesting and more diverse crop of presidential aspirants.
And because politics in Nigeria reminds us of secondary school we couldn’t help but re-imagine some of our 2019 presidential aspirants as secondary school students.
Fela Durotoye is the smart kid who is always the first to put up his hand when the teacher asks a question, whether he knows the answer or not.
Teacher: What’s 2 plus 2?
Fela: If you really believe in yourself, the answer will be 22.
Oby is the kid who will write names of noisemakers, put her best friend’s name and submit it to the teacher.
She’ll even add x2 if she catches you talking again.
Donald Duke is the fresh kid everyone likes and is very popular.
He was Social prefect once and everyone loved him. The whole school thinks he can do no wrong.
Sowore is the one all the teachers used to call useless boy and now he wants to prove them wrong by becoming head boy.
He gets called into the principal’s office every single day.
Moghalu is the smart kid who always comes first and everyone thinks he has two heads.
But the day he came second he went to report to the Principal that the person who came first didn’t deserve it.
Eunice Atuejide is the transfer student who came in SS2 and nobody knew until she said she wanted to become head girl.
The boys like her because she refused to join the Girls’ Guide.
Atiku is the rich kid who was Assistant Class Captain once and has now made it his life’s mission to become Class Captain.
He has been trying since JSS1, he is in SS3 now.
Buhari is the one who has been trying to become class captain since JSS1, when they finally gave it to him in SS3 he decided to show the whole school pepper.
And he’ll continue to show us pepper till he graduates.
Eighteen other Nigerians have also come out to say they want to run for president. Who else do you think we should add to this list?
