Tinubu’s burden, Atiku’s opportunity: The road to 2027, By Adnan Mukhtar

Even the governors and National Assembly candidates of the APC are doing their posters alone without attaching the picture of Tinubu to these. Go through the billboards in the North, and you’ll notice that attaching Tinubu’s picture to your poster will create enmity for you and make you unpopular.

Elections are not won by emotions but by fact. Political party candidates campaign to people on the basis of what they can offer, while the ones in power use the dividends of their leadership to people as their major tools of campaign, by telling the world what they have done in terms of development. The opposition looks at that, criticises where they have gone wrong and what they have not provided for the people as a crucial part of its campaign.

That’s constructive campaigning. The recent flag off of President Tinubu’s campaign in Kaduna on Saturday says a lot about the failure of the president to deliver good governance to Nigerians.

I expected to president to campaign on three or four areas where the North is left behind in his government, not to talk of the massive nepotism whereby his kinsmen are in charge of critical government agencies, while not treating Nigerians equally. I was expecting to see President Tinubu making adjustments to the sort of nepotism that took place during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari; however things are getting only worse, with Nigerians and the north experiencing the worst ever nepotistic government ever since independence.

The president should have asked himself whether the North has recovered from the massive kidnapping enterprises which he inherited from Buhari. Are people with fertile land to farm still going to their various farms to do produce food for the country? This answer is a resounding ‘No,’ due to the insecurity in the North.

In Kaduna, a family was kidnapped and nearly killed before they were rescued. Nobody knows whether ransom was paid or not but the Kaduna State government claimed to have rescued them. Governor Uba Sani was even seen thanking the National Security Adviser for his efforts in the rescue mission. This is the situation that the North still finds itself under President Tinubu.

The second most important thing is economic instability. No one would believe that there is economic improvement in the country, when people are not able to have three square meals in a day, and when people are abandoning their cars for electric bikes.

This is one area in which Atiku has won the heart of the masses by promising to restore the fuel subsidy whose removal has had massive negative impact on the masses. People are living in hunger and abject poverty, one which I have witnessed at its most severe form since the return to democracy in 1999.

Tinubu seems to feel no regret over the hardship in the country, and is putting the blame on the opposition. This has provoked Nigerians the most.

What Nigerians are after at the moment is for the person who will provide them with security, remove them from abject poverty, restore fuel subsidy, and provide them with a conducive environment that will create job opportunities for the unemployed.

Children can’t go to school because their parents cannot afford this, whilst the daily income, minimum wage and meagre salaries cannot cater for their needs.

As a politician, campaign for Tinubu and become unpopular. I have since realised that politicians at the forefront campaigning for Tinubu don’t care about the predicament of the North. Despite all the problems and challenges there, they tend to care for their pockets more, and not for Nigerians. This is most unpatriotic.

It’s sad that even when Tinubu decided to pick his campaign DG, he ended up with Senator Yari, who has a poor record of good governance. The only thing he knows how to do is sharing money to the people. There are even serious speculations that his source of wealth is associated to his record as a governor. He is said to have come into power not as a business man but ended his tenure as governor as one of the wealthiest persons in Nigeria.

When during a TV interview, the anchor Rufai Oseni asked after his track record as governor of Zamfara and the high rate of poverty when he led the state, he ended up beating around the bush in response.

Nigerians are feeling the pain deep in them and they will vote for Waziri Atiku Abubakar. They will give him a try because of the good plans he has for the country. He served this country as vice president with diligence, and he is one of the best and capacitated vice presidents that the country has so far produced, and not the spare tyre Kashim Shettima, who not only serves as Nigeria’s second citizen but as the number one praise singer of his principal.

Atiku will win massively for the aforementioned reasons. It’s the people who vote, not the elite who make noise on social media or television stations. Elections are won at the polling units and not on social media.

They will share the money, people will collect it and vote for the right person.

I refuse to make mention of other presidential candidates for one reason, many of them are working for the return of the president, especially the NDC. I trust Seyi Makinde of APM to be more serious as an opposition candidate than Peter Obi of the NDC and Rabiu Kwankwaso, who have appeared to be more concerned and critical of Waziri Atiku, rather than Tinubu who has inflicted hardship on Nigerians.

Adnan Mukhtar is a public affairs analyst, university lecturer and doctoral candidate at Bayero University, Kano.