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By Myke Agunwa
Barley two years into the first tenure of President Bola Tinubu administration, politicians have started erecting billboards, organizing campaigns, town hall meetings and mobilizing support groups ahead of 2027 general election.
Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body saddled with the duty of conducting election is yet to release the official timetable for the 2027 general elections, the political turf is already heating up.
Across cities and communities, billboards are springing up, campaign slogans are recited at public functions. Politicians are openly mobilizing, launching subtle campaigns, and staking their claims on the future, in clear contravention of the Electoral Act, which bars early campaigning.
These premature activities not only undermine the authority of INEC but also signals a fierce and potentially chaotic political season ahead. As the race to 2027 unofficially begins, Nigerians are once again spectators to a game where rules are often bent before the whistle is blown.
According to INEC and the Electoral Act (2010, as amended in 2022), “political parties in Nigeria are allowed to begin public campaigning exactly 90 days before election day, and this campaigning window ends 24 hours before the election”.
However, politicians have ignored this provision of the constitution and have commenced campaigns, setting up of billboards and organizing campaign meetings in contravention of the law.
Pointblanknews.com observed that some streets in Abuja and Lagos are littered with the campaign posters of President Bola Tinubu. Right in front of the Presidential Villa gate at the Yakubu Gowon Crescent the entire stretch of road down to AYA bridge is littered with Door to Door Campaign Posters for President Tinubu. The Ahmadu Bello Way and the Shehu Shagari Way are not left out.
It was also observed that gigantic billboards with the image of the President and his wife, sponsored by Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo were mounted at strategic junctions like Shehu Shagari – Presidential Villa junction, Asokoro Water Board Junction and other major streets in the Federal Capital Territory and just as it is also being erected in many state capitals and major streets across the country.
Even after the Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga in a statement, dissociated the Presidency from the campaign bill boards and posters, new one ones have continued to spring up in different locations in the FCT.
Recall that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had earlier endorsed President Bola Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje made the announcement during the party’s national summit in Abuja recently.
“As the chairman of the party and on behalf of the National Working Committee – the only recognised platform, I believe, legally, to field a candidate in any election – I hereby affirm the various endorsements and declare President Bola Tinubu as the sole presidential candidate of the APC,” Ganduje said at the event attended by APC governors, ministers and other political heavyweights of the ruling party.
Similarly, a 2027 Presidential Campaign Billboard of Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde is also mounted at the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was also learnt that that campaign posters of the governor as well as bill boards were mounted in several streets in Ibadan, some cities in the South west and even faraway Kano State.
Makinde’s posters in Kano are the handiwork of a political support group, Nigeria Youths Awareness Group Makinde 2027 (NYAG Makinde 2027), which says it is mobilizing support across Northern Nigeria for Makinde’s potential bid for the presidency.
The National Secretary of the group, Lawal Abdullahi told journalists during an interaction in Kano that they had concluded consultations with various political stakeholders across the country and committed to driving the Makinde 2027 movement to full national prominence.
“We have met as different groups and agreed to have a common front for the Seyi Makinde for President 2027 project. We are a moving train, and there is no stopping us until we achieve a Makinde presidency,” Abdullahi said.
He added that the group’s campaign materials, including posters, billboards, handbills, and other branded items, were ready and would soon flood the entire Northern region.
“By next week, Insha Allah, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Borno, Yobe, and Gombe will explode with Makinde’s presence. The Southern states will follow subsequently,” he said.
Also in Oyo, the campaign posters of popular Ibadan-based broadcaster, Hamzat Oriyomi, were also seen on the streets of Ibadan. The posters with the tag, “2027 Oyo n pe o”, had a portrait of the veteran Yoruba broadcaster in black colour, raising awareness for his preparation in the anticipated election without an indication of the office he is contesting for.
In Nasarawa State, billboards of former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, were elegantly displayed along Abuja Keffi express way and in strategic locations in Keffi and Lafia.
Adamu who officially declared his intention to contest in the 2027 gubernatorial election in Nasarawa State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday during a meeting with members of the State Working Committee of the APC in Lafia said that his decision was driven by a “clarion call” from the people of Nasarawa who, according to him, believe in his leadership capabilities and experience.
Adamawa state is also flooded with campaign posters of the state governor Umar fintri with several campaign offices springing up in different cities in the state.
Similarly, posters of Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, with the inscription ‘Kaura for President 2027’ flooded Bauchi streets. The posters are placed at strategic places including roundabouts, electrical poles and signboards along major streets within the state capital.
One of the youths hired for the pasting of the posters, Aminu Auwal reported that two politicians identified as Ya’u Ortega and Talolo, contracted them to do the job.
Auwal said, “We were directed to post the governor’s posters along major steers of Bauchi state. We started the work around 1am today and we are hoping to finish it today.”
Reacting to the development, a public affairs analyst, Abubakar Umar, Director General of Humanity Project International (HUMPROJ), said that President Tinubu is enamored with those posters otherwise he could have ordered that they be removed.
While dismissing an early statement from the Presidency, he said, “Tinubu is a politician and he is happy that those posters and bill boards are being erected. It gives him the aura that people want him for a second tenure. It gives him a sense of victory against the coalition. It has happened before during the time of Abacha when there was a two-million-man march for Abacha who was described as the only “man the cap fits”.
“Kick starting the campaign two years into an administration is against the law and INEC should be able to sanction of disqualify who ever flouts the law, ” Umar said.
But when reminded that those billboards and posters may have been pasted without the consent of the president he replied, “The mere fact that they distanced themselves from the act is an indication that they know that these things exists. The next step is to order that the billboards or posters should be dismantled immediately. If they cannot do that, then they are enjoying the publicity or endorsement as mere statement without action amounts to nothing” he said.
Also commenting on the development, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre(CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani described the situation as one of those impunity and irresponsible activities of the political class.
He noted that the elite have turned governance into an avenue for personal enrichment and called for collective action by the citizens to halt the misnomer.
His words, “There is a collapse of responsible governance by the Nigerian elites and that is why, all the norms, all the systems, all the ethics in the electoral system, they break it because of the impunity and because they have turned governance into a commercial enterprise.
“That is why they sponsor electoral violence. They sponsor all sorts of irresponsible behaviour to dismantle the system. This is what we are seeing,” he said.
When asked if there are sanctions to be meted out on politicians for the infraction on the Electoral Act, he continued, “There is no system that can just go without regulation. Therefore, there must be consequences for irresponsible behaviour. There’s no way politicians will just be allowed to do whatever they like.
“I think it is important that the political class sit down to re-evaluate and negotiate how governance should be carried out because the political elite have a responsibility to create a conducive environment for fair governance in Nigeria.
“The current trend is not even sustainable and is not going to help to strengthen democracy in Nigeria and create peace, stability and equality in Nigeria. So that is why it has to be changed. And that is why we in civil society have been demanding and agitating for responsible governance in Nigeria. This can only happen when the elite decide to say enough of our irresponsible behavior.
“If the elite do not support the move by civil society to create conducive environment, it will be extremely difficult for any change to happen. So we need to have the buying of the political class in Nigeria”.
But when reminded that the elite cannot easily change and decide to do the right thing, he said,
“No, no. It is possible if there’s a collective demand and agitation by Nigerians. Once Nigerians decide to keep quiet, nothing is going to happen. But when the Nigerian people insist that things have to change, the elite will have no option then to also do the right thing.
“But if you expect the elite just to initiate things like that, sadly they will not do anything. So I think it is our collective responsibility to continue to rise up and demand for responsible governance in Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, efforts to speak with INEC on the development were unsuccessful as the Chief Press Secretary to Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Rotimi Onyekanmi did not pick his calls when contacted by our correspondent.