Arise Politics Editor and Director of News, Sumner Sambo, has described President Bola Tinubu’s decision not to campaign nationwide ahead of the 2027 presidential election as a weak point, warning that it could limit the president’s direct engagement with voters and his understanding of conditions across the country.
This comes after President Tinubu said during the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council that he would not attend every campaign event, citing the need to prioritise governance and other responsibilities of his office.
“It’s not unprecedented. If you take a look at what has happened since 1999, you’ll discover that in 2015, we actually had a similar situation where the sitting president couldn’t go everywhere—that’s former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“But in terms of within the APC in governance, it’s actually a weak point for President Tinubu. But if you now juxtapose between Buhari and Tinubu, it’s actually seen as a weak point internationally.
“Now, President Tinubu has not been going around so much, even before this campaign. This could have given him the opportunity to see things openly and clearly, interact with people. So if he’s just going to a few places, I would say that he should be very, very careful of some of the governors and some of his campaign team members—very careful because there’s so much hidden that cannot be said now.”
He also criticised the support for Tinubu’s re-election by governors from opposition parties, describing their actions as “classical anti-party” politics and arguing that they should face sanctions from their respective parties in the absence of formal agreements with the APC.
“In classical politics, people like Governor Ademola and Governor Chukwuma Soludo should have been sanctioned by their political parties. Because what they are engaging is classical antiparty. Because there’s no formal agreement between the APC and APGA in pen and paper even the PDP.
“These are elected persons, I mean, who swore by the constitution of APGA, swore by the constitution of their party, and there’s no formal document between them and the APC. So whatever they are doing is outside.”
Sambo further warned that the development could set a dangerous precedent in Nigeria’s political system, arguing that the APC risks becoming a special purpose vehicle (SPV) designed solely to secure Tinubu’s presidency rather than building a strong political institution capable of surviving beyond his tenure.
“The precedence is setting because it looks like the institution of the APC is being used to build him instead of building a party that would outlast himself. Because it’s not about Tinubu now, it’s not about regime political security; it’s about the security of the APC as a party, so that he doesn’t intend making APC to look like an SPV (special purpose vehicle) that is set up to deliver the Tinubu presidency. And after Tinubu, peradventure wins second term, and he goes down, that will just be the end because everybody will pull out and then the party will no longer be there.”
Favour Odima
Follow us on:
