UMAR ISMAIL

The religious card has expired. What remains for Bola Tinubu in 2027? In Taraba yesterday, worshippers walked out of a Jumu’ah mosque when an imam tried to campaign for the Muslim-Muslim ticket inside the place of worship. Reports indicate the congregation nearly turned on him. This was not an isolated rejection of an imam; it was a rejection of the idea that religion can still be weaponised to demand loyalty after four years of hardship. You cannot tell a hungry Muslim to vote for Tinubu because of a Muslim-Muslim ticket that delivered inflation, food shortages, and widespread poverty. You cannot ask the North to renew its support for the same arrangement when the President has failed to protect lives and livelihoods. Sentiments does not fill the stomach, and it does not stop bandits. After nearly four years in power, any serious re-election effort must rest on measurable results and kept promises. Appeals to faith, tribe, or region will no longer suffice. Nigerians are living with the consequences of the current policies. They will not grant a second term simply to deepen the same pain. Atiku Abubakar offers the clearest contrast. He has consistently refused to play the religious or ethnic card. His campaigns have been framed around policy, competence, and national cohesion rather than identity. That approach demonstrates a politician more interested in governing a functional Nigeria than in capturing power at any cost. Growing numbers of Nigerians now see that distinction, and 2027 will test it at the ballot. Tinubu has alienated voters across the North and the South, and among both Muslims and Christians. He spent his years in office securing governors and lawmakers while ordinary citizens absorbed the costs of his reforms. In 2027 those citizens will deliver their verdict. On the evidence of performance and public sentiment, Tinubu currently has no credible pathway to re-election. —AbdulAziz Na'ibi Abubakar

Arewa, wake up!

PRESS STATEMENT TINUBU HAS BUILT NOTHING EXCEPT A SOLAR FARM TO POWER HIS COMFORT IN ASO ROCK, WHILE NIGERIANS SUFFER — ADC-PCC The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has described as an insult to Nigerians the statement credited to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, declaring that “The Question Is What We Build, Not How Much We Borrow.” The ADC-PCC challenged President Tinubu to identify what his administration has actually built with the mountain of loans it has accumulated since assuming office in 2023 insisting that Nigerians have seen little or no tangible returns on the country's growing debt burden. The campaign council's reaction was contained in a statement issued by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja. Ologbondiyan said it was particularly disturbing that Mr Onanuga would attempt to dress the President in borrowed garments by speaking about infrastructure and development when, according to the ADC-PCC, the administration has failed to demonstrate commensurate achievements despite unprecedented borrowing. He alleged that the only visible project associated with the administration's concern for electricity is a solar farm installed to guarantee power supply within the comfort of the Presidential Villa, while millions of Nigerians continue to grapple with unreliable electricity. Ologbondiyan pointed out that "For three and a half wasted years, TInubu government has borrowed without restraint and built nothing. No value, no legacy, no impact. “Except for projects inherited from the late President Muhammadu Buhari, many of the projects being advertised by the Tinubu administration are nothing but audio projects. They exist only on paper, as conceptual designs or as announcements on newspaper pages and television screens. “Under Tinubu, virtually every project exists in a press statement. “Where is the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway? Audio. Where is the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway? Audio. Where is the Trans-Sahara Superhighway? Audio. Where are the promised electricity grid upgrades? All propaganda, no commensurate progress, just media hype from Bayo Onanuga and his team. “Even the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, awarded more than eight years ago, remains a source of concern to motorists. Its prolonged construction and delays tell the story of APC governance. “Mr President must wake up and confront the reality facing Nigerians, if there is still left between now and January 16. Citizens are hungry and enduring excruciating hardship. People are dying from hunger, insecurity and deprivation, while the government remains preoccupied with propaganda and self-congratulatory statements. “These are the real signposts of what the Tinubu administration has built in almost four years. “Today, ministries are barely functioning, agencies are struggling, and critical directorates are failing to deliver. Nigeria is practically comatose. "The Tinubu Presidency came into power without a convincing blueprint or workable ideas and, after almost four years, has offered Nigerians little beyond failure, hardship, poverty and insecurity. “If borrowing is truly for development, let President Tinubu show Nigerians one tangible project his administration has delivered with its trillions of naira in loans, beyond the solar farm in the Presidential Villa. “The only thing this administration has successfully built is hardship. “We appeal to international donors, development partners and financial institutions to exercise greater scrutiny and insist on accountability, transparency and prudence before extending further loans to Nigeria. “Borrowing is not inherently wrong when the benefits translate into improved living conditions for citizens. What is unacceptable is a situation in which the country continues to accumulate debts without corresponding benefits for the people. “Nigerians must not be compelled to...