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By Myke Agunwa
An ally of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Adeniyi Waziri has described the formal inauguration of a Committee to coordinate a national population and housing census by President Bola Tinubu as a strategy to manipulate the 2027 polls.
Recall that President Tinubu had on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, inaugurated an eight-member committee, headed by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu and the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, as Secretary.
The eight-member committee include the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; his Information counterpart, Mohammed Idris and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji.
Others are the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote; Principal Secretary to the President and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations (Office of the Chief of Staff), Oyinade Nathan-Marsh.
The President said the census is crucial for national development, accurate planning, and effective decision-making in healthcare, education, security, and economic planning and charged them to submit their report in three weeks.
Note that Nigeria’s last census was in 2006, nearly two decades ago, which recorded a population of 140,431,790, with 71,345,488 males and 69,086,302 females.
Meanwhile, Waziri, a strong supporter of the coalition and ally to former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasiru El’Rufai, in his verified X handle @waziriadeniyi criticized the constitution of the committee members, pointing out that the South East, South-South and North East were sidelined.
“Below are the members of the Population and Census Committee set up by @officialABAT. Is this human normal at all??
Bagudu – NW, Kwarra – NC, Idris – NW, Edun – SW, Adedeji – SW, Odusote – SW, Okunola – SW, Oyinade- SW. I can now confidently say Tinubu is not okay”.
He went further to allege that President Tinubu should not be trusted with figures that will come out from the exercise as he will use the opportunity to reduce the population of the North and increase that of the South West to justify the figures that will be churned out after the 2027 general election.
“Now let me tell Nigerians especially the people from the Northern parts of Nigeria and S/E, S/S probably. This @officialABAT plans to quickly rush and carry out a census and population counting of humans and houses as part of his plans to rig the election in 2027. You heard me right!
“Tinubu is going to inflate figures in his South West census like never seen in history, mark my words for it and Tinubu will deplete, significantly reduce the known numbers of the Northern parts of Nigeria, especially the N/W and N/E.
“I know Tinubu too well to lie or say inaccurate things against him. By the time the census results are out, he is going to use those figures to tabulate his rigging plans for the election of 2027. I swear to God.
“If you all relax and be complacent in the North, you will blame yourselves at the end of the day that I said it. Census is good if done with clear minds of good purposes of development and infrastructural purposes, but quote me, this census of Tinubu is geared towards getting numbers for election rigging, I swear with the holy book. You all must monitor Tinubu closely before, during and after his ill-intentioned census and wake up to your responsibility.
“A thief doesn’t come to play when they visit home. A thief only comes to steal, kill, maim and outsmart owners of things to be stolen. Wake up call to all regions to be alert and watch another episode of “The Other Side of Midnight from Emilokan.