By Ehichioya Ezomon
During the November 2010 Midterm elections in the United States, then-President Barack Obama, in his first term in office, described as “a shellacking” – a term which refers to “a severe beating or, in this context, a massive electoral defeat” – the drubbing of his Democratic party at the poll, and the loss of control of the House of Representatives to the Republican party.
Even as American voters normally “punish” an incumbent government in the midterms, especially when the economy slows down, Obama, at a press conference on November 3, 2010, didn’t blame the opposition Republicans, but took “direct responsibility” for the losses the Democrats suffered across the country.
With Democrats losing 63 seats in the House and six in the Senate, along with major losses in state legislatures, a result he labeled as “humbling,” Obama attributed the results to voter frustration with the slow pace of the economic recovery (unemployment was near 9.6% at the time) and stated he took “direct responsibility” for the outcomes, as AI Overview recalls.
That’s leadership defined by taking responsibility for actions and outcomes, as “the bulk stops” on the president’s (leader’s) table, or head of the opposition that craves to replace the ruling party. Not taking responsibility is a dereliction of the sacred pledge they make, to provide a viable alternative to the status quo!
We’ve in Nigeria a President Bola Tinubu, who doesn’t blame others for the fallout from his tough economic reforms on Nigeria and Nigerians right from his inaugural on May 29, 2023, when he pulled subsidy on oil and floated the naira to narrow or bridge the gap between the official and parallel (black) market rates of exchange.
Tinubu also doesn’t fail to take responsibility for any electoral loss, even as defeat seems scarce in his 34-year political journey, from his senatorial contest in 1992, to goveorship bids in 1999 and 2003, to joining hands with others to found and install the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the first opposition party in the governance of Nigeria in 2015, to the re-election of then-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, and to his (Tinubu’s) election as President in 2023.
Though he lost in the 2023 General Election his residential political stronghold of Lagos State to the Labour Party (LP) candidate, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, and his home State of Osun to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Tinubu didn’t blame anyone.
For what Nigerians have known him for, Tinubu wouldn’t have blamed anyone had he lost the February 25, 2023, poll. He’d go home and restrategise for the next electoral battle!
He claims that he’s prepared for any eventuality, and ahead of his competitors in studies, in workplaces, in business and politics, in governance, in hiring of competent people, and in handling of betrayers, as, in his words, “I plan for betrayal, I plan for backstabbing, I also plan for reunion and forgiveness long before they happen. In life, I expect nothing, I expect anything, I expect everything.”
Nigerians have seen the exact opposite in the opposition camp that Atiku heads in the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) the COP’s adopted as the platform to “remove” President Tinubu from power in 2027.
Despite their campaigns for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Atiku, in a postmortem on the FCT, Abuja, area council election of Saturday, February 21, 2026, denied responsibility, and blamed Tinubu for the low turnout of voters.
His fault-finding statement, issued on February 24 by his media office, African Democratic Congress, reads:
“Former Vice President of Nigeria and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has raised a grave alarm over the disgracefully low voter turnout recorded in Saturday’s FCT Area Council elections.
“Reacting to the exercise, the former Vice President described the turnout, which averaged below 20 per cent, with the Abuja Municipal Area Council recording a shocking 7.8 per cent, as a damning verdict on the health of Nigeria’s democracy under the current administration.
“According to Atiku, such abysmal civic participation in the nation’s capital, the symbolic heartbeat of the federation, is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of a political environment poisoned by intolerance, intimidation, and the systematic weakening of opposition voices.
“When citizens lose faith that their votes matter, democracy begins to die. What we are witnessing is not mere voter apathy. It is a direct consequence of an administration that governs with a chokehold on pluralism. Democracy in Nigeria is being suffocated slowly, steadily, and dangerously.
“A democracy without vibrant opposition, without free political competition, and without public confidence is a democracy in name only. If this chokehold is not released, history will record this era as the period when our hard-won freedoms were traded for fear and conformity.
“The former Vice President called on opposition parties and democratic forces across the country to urgently close ranks and forge a united front. This is no longer about party lines; it is about preserving the Republic. The time to stand together to rescue and rebuild Nigeria is now.”
If these allegations were true, will Atiku and his co-opposition figures be roaming Nigeria freely, running their mouths, and holding public and clandestine political meetings on how to remove Tinubu and his APC-ruling government from power in whatever (im)possible means?
Atiku and his colleagues should go and ask their counterparts in civilian authoritarian regimes in Africa, such as neighbouring Cameroon, Uganda and Tanzania (under a female ruler) how they’re fairing opposing their Presidents and their governments!
What Nigerians want is for Atiku to address the woeful outing of the ADC at the poll they’d framed as a referendum on the “clueless and non-performing” administration of President Tinubu, boasting that they’d win the contest as a test-run for the 2027 General Election.
By shifting attention to low voter turnout, Atiku’s tried to send a message that if the “political environment” in the country, and especially in the FCT, weren’t as they’re, the voter turnout would’ve been higher than the 15% that INEC affirmed to’ve voted on February 21, and his ADC would’ve won the election!
The arrowheads of the ADC: Atiku, Obi, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and David Mark campaigned vigorously for the poll, which the FCT voters really turned into a referendum on Tinubu’s tough economic reforms, and gave the ruling APC five of the six area councils, and one to the PDP.
The gold standard for the FCT election is the AMAC, the administrative headquarters, which houses the main infrastructure of the Federal Government, where the ADC bigwigs concentrated their campaigns. Still, they laboured in vain, and were left gaping!
Going by the return of the INEC Collation Officer for AMAC, Prof. Andrew Abue, Christopher Maikalangu of the APC was re-elected, “having scored the highest number of votes cast, 40,295 out of the total number of valid votes of 62,861 in the election.” The ADC came a distant second with 12,109 votes, while the PDP polled 3,398 votes.
That only the APC and PDP secured victories isn’t such a surprise, as Wike, a staunch supporter of President Tinubu in whose government he serves as FCT Minister, straddles both APC and PDP under a novel combo “PDPAC” – a homegrown stratagem he designed during the 2023 election, to help secure Rivers, and also Benue and Oyo states for then-candidate Tinubu.
Congratulating the FCT poll winners (and others in bye-elections in Kano and Rivers states, which the APC also won) for their victories, which he said underscored the party’s “deep connection with the people,” President Tinubu noted the “vibrancy of Nigeria’s democratic space” with the “courage, discipline and sportsmanship displayed by all contestants” – a far cry from what the opposition labels the poll.
Tinubu commended the FCT Minister and former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, for what he described as his “remarkable achievements,” noting that, “the developmental strides recorded under his leadership have yielded political dividends for the APC.”
For Wike, it’s time to bask in the APC victory, which he’d predicted on the campaign trail, and in an exchange with Senator Ireti Kingibe (ADC, FCT), who, on eve of the poll, criticised him for “imposing an 18-hour restriction on movements.”
Wike, claiming to carry out the orders of President Tinubu (who doubles as the “Governor of the FCT”), simply told Kingibe that, “We will know who is who on Saturday” – referring to the poll that’d determine which between the APC and ADC (previously LP, which elected Kingibe to the Senate) controls the FCT.
And true to his prediction, the APC overwhelmed the ADC, and puts Kingibe’s 2027 return ticket to the Senate in jeopardy!
Returning Tinubu’s commendation in a broadcast on national television and radio stations on February 22, Wike said APC’s showing at the poll “is a reflection of the President’s vision and leadership, and a testimony that the (Tinubu) Renewed Hope Agenda has brought optimism and confidence to the people of the FCT.”
Praising the victorious APC and PDP candidates, Wike, terming the peaceful conduct of the election as a testament to the commitment of the FCT people to “democracy and good governance,” noted that the poll “has indeed shown that Nigerians now know the ruling party and the real opposition party” – a dig at the ADC, which “assumes” itself as the main oppostion in Nigeria.
The PDP, left for dead politically over the intractable crises in its fold, prompting its then-leader, Atiku, and former Senate President David Mark to jump ship to the ADC – didn’t miss out of the moment’s jubilations, reclaiming itself as the “main oppostion party.”
A statement by Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, the national publicity secretary of the party’s National Caretaker Working Committee (NCWC) allied with Wike, throated: “As the only opposition party that won one out of the six Area Council chairmanship seats, the PDP has reaffirmed that it remains a viable and dependable alternative platform.”
That, surely, was a powerful punch aimed at the Atiku-led ADC.
Summing up the elections across Nigeria on February 21, the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentanwe Yilwatda, said: “The Abuja election, in particular, is a powerful statement by Nigerians from all walks of life that they stand firmly with President Tinubu and his bold reform agenda.
“As residents of the nation’s capital, their verdict sends a strong message of widespread support, renewed hope, and confidence in the ability of this administration to reposition Nigeria for sustainable growth and prosperity.”
Having badly failed the FCT poll as a test-run for the next General Election, it’s hoped that the opposition ADC – posturing as a viable alternative to the ruling APC, and Atiku, who always seeks the easy way out, as he did from the PDP, which made him Vice President for eight years (1999-2007), and gave its presidential ticket twice to him in 2019 and 2023 – will take responsibility, and not blame President Tinubu but themselves for a potential repeat performance in 2027!
- Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos. He can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357
