Five words from the President’s mouth have set Nigeria’s 2027 race ablaze. The opposition African Democratic Congress now wants him to take them back.
The ADC Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) is demanding that President Bola Tinubu publicly retract his “All Is Fair in Politics” remark. It calls the phrase “an open licence for thuggery, ballot snatching, intimidation and bloodshed.”
In a statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, its media director, the council said the words are “the language of political desperation,” not the language of a head of state.
“President Tinubu cannot claim to desire peace when his own words provide cover for violence,” the statement said.
The ADC-PCC says the damage is already visible on the ground. It alleges that from Edo to Cross River, Gombe to Lagos, and Kebbi to Kaduna, opposition rallies have been attacked, campaign materials destroyed and innocent supporters brutalised by APC-sponsored thugs.
The statement offers no evidence for these claims, which are the party’s own.
What angers the party most, it says, is the President’s silence. It accuses Tinubu of refusing to rein in APC governors and chieftains who it claims have openly threatened opposition supporters. Instead, it says, the Presidency, through spokesman Bayo Onanuga, has lectured the opposition and shielded the people the ADC blames for the violence.
“Why is his anger always directed at the opposition and never at those within his own political fold?” the council demanded.
The ADC-PCC also reached back to 2015 and Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration that no presidential ambition was worth the blood of any Nigerian.
“If former President Goodluck Jonathan could make that profound declaration in 2015, President Tinubu has no excuse not to say so,” the statement said.
It issued three demands. Tinubu must withdraw the remark immediately, condemn and call to order the APC officials accused of inciting violence, and direct security agencies to protect all Nigerians impartially instead of intimidating the opposition.
The remark dates to July 29, when Tinubu told Catholic bishops in Abuja that everyone has equal opportunities and that INEC is neutral.
The ADC had already urged him to explain himself, warning that his silence amid recent political threats could send a troubling signal.
The comment has split public opinion. Damian Opata defended it as political reality rather than a licence for wrongdoing, while conceding that critics have a point about the weight a president’s words carry. Leadership newspaper’s editorial board rejected it outright, calling the remark unpresidential and insisting all is not fair in politics. ariseleadership
The charges of violence have flown in both directions this year. When the ADC blamed the APC for a shooting in Edo State, the APC called the claim “utterly delusional” and said it condemns violence of any kind.
The Presidency, for its part, has told the opposition, the ADC especially, to stop its constant lamentation and unwarranted outrage. leadershipallafrica
The ADC insists it will not be cowed. “We will continue to campaign peacefully,” the statement said, “and in 2027, Nigerians will have the opportunity to vote for competence, integrity and a new beginning.”