MDPCO says Tinubu’s campaign flag-off flops despite alleged N2.3trn for mobilisation

The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has alleged that President Bola Tinubu’s campaign flag-off in Kaduna State on Saturday flopped despite an alleged N2.3 trillion expenditure on mobilisation.

It described the rally as a reflection of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s failure to win public confidence ahead of the 2027 presidential poll.

The organisation made the allegation on Saturday night through its Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Richard Ihediwa, who said the rally was “another carnival of deceit, recycled lies and brazen political fraud.”

He wrote, “It is a desperate attempt to sell repackaged failed promises and fresh illusions to the North, a region battered by insecurity, crushed by hardship and betrayed by President Tinubu’s government, which is now on its fours begging for re-election.”

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The MDPCO noted that Tinubu’s campaign speech offered little beyond “stale triumphalism and self-congratulation,” arguing that the President failed to provide convincing reasons for Nigerians to endure the economic hardship experienced under his administration since May 2023.

It also faulted Tinubu’s promise of “a better tomorrow” for young Nigerians, citing widespread joblessness and recalling the arrests and treason charges brought against some participants, including minors, during the August 2024 protests against hunger.

On infrastructure, the organisation criticised the commissioning of an inherited, partially constructed 88-kilometre section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway at the rally venue rather than at the project site.

“Moreover, a section is not the entire Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, and a commissioning ceremony is no substitute for full delivery. President Tinubu cannot claim the whole when he is commissioning a part. He cannot turn an inherited project into personal glory,” it added.

The MDPCO further questioned the decision to deploy heavy security to the rally, suggesting that it reflected concerns about the security situation or public anger against the administration.

It urged Tinubu to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race and support the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) candidate, Engr. Seyi Makinde, whom it described as better positioned to rescue the country through his Reset Nigeria agenda.