The political temperature in Nigeria is rising once again ahead of the 2027 general elections, bringing with it the familiar chorus of partisan rhetoric, outrage, and tactical posturing. The recent announcement that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will limit his physical campaign tour to twelve selected states, choosing to rely on surrogates, party structures, and regional hubs across the remaining twenty-four, has ignited a fierce debate.
Opposition leaders like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have wasted no time launching attacks, declaring that leadership cannot be delegated and questioning the president’s physical capacity. Yet, beneath the political theater lies a striking contradiction: instead of lamenting this decision, the opposition should be celebrating it as a rare gift.
In the fast-paced arena of presidential politics, complaint is too often mistaken for strategy. For months, opposition figures have built their messaging around grievances and speculative propaganda regarding the president’s health and stamina, seizing upon every schedule modification as evidence of unfitness.
This reliance on grievance politics is a distraction from the fundamental arithmetic of elections, which requires winning over the electorate state by state, vote by vote. By repeatedly retreating to press statements and media outrage, the opposition is playing to the gallery rather than seizing the concrete political territory handed to them on a platter.
It is worth recalling the precedent set during the 2023 campaign, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu defied political conventional wisdom by physically visiting all thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory. At the time, critics voiced similar doubts about his endurance, yet he executed a grueling nationwide tour that energized local party structures and projected an image of political ubiquity.
Now, as an incumbent balancing the demands of governance with political survival, his campaign team has opted for a consolidated regional strategy. Whether this approach stems from governance priorities or strategic calculation, it creates an inevitable political vacuum across twenty-four states where the president will not appear in person.
In political organizing, physical presence is currency. When a presidential candidate steps foot in a state, meets community leaders, and addresses local concerns directly, it signals respect and drives voter mobilization in ways that surrogates and television broadcasts simply cannot match.
By leaving two-thirds of the country off his direct itinerary, President Tinubu has effectively left vast swathes of the electorate open to direct persuasion. Instead of capitalizing on this massive structural advantage, opposition parties are spending valuable momentum complaining that their opponent isn’t fighting them on every front.
The opposition’s current reliance on propaganda regarding campaign logistics reveals a deeper lack of strategic imagination. Merely telling voters that a president is absent or unfit does not automatically convert them into opposition voters; candidates must present themselves as viable, present, and engaged alternatives.
Surrogates, no matter how influential, carry inherent vulnerabilities when defending complex government policies and economic realities on the ground. An opposition that is tactical and logical would eagerly step into these twenty-four states, hold town halls, rally local stakeholders, and demonstrate their own physical commitment to the voters who feel bypassed.
As the road to 2027 unfolds, the political landscape will reward pragmatic action over performative outrage. The opposition stands at a critical crossroads where they must decide whether to remain comfortable in the role of perpetual critics or to adopt the aggressive, ground-level tactics required to win a presidential election. President Tinubu’s limited campaign schedule is not a setback for democracy; it is an open door for anyone bold enough to walk through it.
If winning elections were easy, every candidate would conquer thirty-six states without friction, but since political victory requires exploiting an opponent’s weaknesses, it is time for the opposition to stop complaining about the rules of the contest and start taking ground.
