Tinubu Inaugurates Campaign Council, Says He Is Too Busy Governing to Campaign: So Who Exactly Is Being Re-elected?

I have a question, and I need you to answer honestly. If a man says he is too busy working to ask for your vote, why does he want the job for another four years?

On Wednesday, at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Tinubu inaugurated the APC Presidential Campaign Council for 2027. Everybody was there with their best agbada and their “I was always loyal” faces. And then he said it: he will not join every campaign activity, because governance comes first. He said party members had warned him not to let the campaign distract him from running the country, and he agreed.

Lovely. Very responsible. It is like the groom saying, “I am too busy for the wedding, but please start without me and send me the video.”

Meanwhile, the council will do the campaigning in the states and local governments. That is a lot of men. Yari is Director-General. Gbajabiamila is in charge of administration. Uzodimma is secretary. Akpabio is deputy something. Somebody is “Director of Stakeholder Mobilisation”. I don’t even know what that means, but I am sure he has a business card.

Then came my favourite part. Tinubu told them: “No one gets credit for an incomplete assignment.” He wants them to deliver their wards and polling units. So the message to all these important men is: bring the votes, and then we will talk. That is the same speech your landlord gives you in December.

Think about this. A candidate who campaigns by delegation. You will see posters everywhere, but the man himself is busy “governing”. Who is going to shake hands in the market? Who is going to wear the local cap and pretend he loves akara? A council member will do it, and he will do it very badly. A man who was just a stakeholder yesterday is now coming to your street to say, “Our President cares about you.”

And you know how this goes. When things are going well, the President was busy governing. When the votes go wrong, it is the council that did not deliver. Perfect system. The man gets credit, and the council takes the blame.

Also, the flag-off is in Kaduna on 24 October, then Port Harcourt, then Maiduguri. Three states. We are waiting to see which of them the President will actually attend. My money is on “he sent a representative”, because governance is demanding.

To be fair, Nigerians are used to this. We elect people who are too busy for us before the election and too busy for us after the election. At least this time they were honest about the first part.