The true son of Nigeria

Renewed Lies: 12 Simple Questions Tinubu Must Answer in Kaduna Tomorrow by Mohammed Bello Doka 23 October, 2026. Tomorrow, the All Progressives Congress will officially launch its 2027 presidential campaign in Kaduna, not Lagos. It will be another rally. Another sea of rented crowds. Another round of thunderous promises that were never meant to be kept. It is akin to a lying competition in which the speaker knows he is lying, the listeners know the speaker is lying, and both pretend otherwise — a ritual that repeats every four years with the precision of a broken clock. But this time, the questions must follow the convoy. And they must be asked not only to the man on the podium, but to everyone who climbs that stage, and to every Nigerian regardless of party — because the deception is not the property of one party. It is a national affliction. Here are twelve simple questions. 1. Who removed fuel subsidy — and where are the savings? Your spokespersons, including the Director General of your campaign council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, now claim there was no subsidy provision in the 2023 appropriation when you took over as president, while in direct contrast your supporters trumpet subsidy removal as your greatest achievement. On May 29, 2023, you declared: "Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions." The question here is who removed subsidy and where is the benefit. After removing a benefit enjoyed by over 200 million Nigerians, what verifiable benefits have the savings delivered — and can you publish the subsidy savings ledger? The government claimed removal would save over ₦10 trillion in two years; Nigerians are still waiting for the hospitals, schools and jobs that money was meant to build. 2. Insecurity: "the only repentant bandit is a dead bandit" — so why negotiate with bandits in the North and not the South-West? In Kaduna, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Yet your administration continues to explore negotiation and amnesty frameworks with bandits in the North while refusing any such approach in Yorubaland. Why the double standard — and what have you actually done to curtail insecurity since May 2023? Between 2023 and 2025, Nigeria recorded thousands of kidnappings and killings, with the North-West accounting for the largest share. 3. "Where is the light?" — your own second-term test On the 2023 campaign trail you promised that if you could not fix Nigeria's electricity, Nigerians should not vote for you in 2027. Where is the light? Has grid supply, generation capacity, or tariff relief improved enough for you to stand by your own test? Nigerians still endure collapsing grids and darkness while paying more for power than ever — Nigerians now pay ₦209 per kilowatt-hour after the April 2024 tariff hike. Where is the money? 4. Poverty: your own spokesmen admit multidimensional poverty has risen — and over 75% of the poor are in the North. Are you here to hold our governors to account? Bayo Onanuga and other spokespersons have acknowledged a considerable increase in multidimensional poverty. NBS data puts over 75% of Nigeria's multidimensional poor in the North. You have asked citizens to hold their governors to account — so what is the Federal Government's accountability for the North, and what specific federal interventions have reversed these numbers since May 2023? The NBS Multidimensional Poverty Index reported 133 million Nigerians — about 63% of the population — as multidimensionally poor, with the North-West alone accounting for over 45 million. 5. Agriculture: the Kaduna promise and the food crisis

A Caged Lion is Still a Lion: Avenge El-Rufai’s Treatment With Your Votes — Refuse to Be Intimidated Today marks two hundred and forty-six days since Mallam Nasir El-Rufai voluntarily surrendered himself to an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and subsequently the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, on February 18, 2026, a detention that has now stretched through nearly eight months of a man who committed no crime other than refusing to kneel. A lot of people, supporters and even enemies alike, have registered their frustration at a spectacle that has long ceased to resemble justice and has become something closer to a political hostage situation. The campaign is about to start, and the paper tigers know it, which is precisely why the cage has not been opened. They thought the cage would silence him. They thought the chains would make the people forget. They were wrong. A caged lion is still a lion but more dangerous. The roar does not die because the mouth is behind bars. It echoes louder. It travels farther. It wakes up those who were sleeping. And in Kaduna, across the North, and through every corner of this country where people still believe that leadership is about service and not about swallowing the commonwealth, the people are waking up. They are watching. They are remembering. And they are angry. Let us be clear. The detention of Nasir El-Rufai is no longer a legal matter. It has become a political circus, and the clowns are not even pretending anymore. A former senator allegedly stood in Zaria and begged the governor to keep El-Rufai locked up until after the 2027 election, until the governor receives his crown, and only then should the lion be released. Read that again. A public figure, in broad daylight, at a political gathering, openly linking the continued detention of a former governor to the electoral ambitions of the incumbent. This is not justice. This is not the rule of law. This is fear wearing the mask of legality. And the mask is slipping. Who are these people demanding that El-Rufai remain caged? Their records speak louder than any label. They are the ones who have never won anything on their own. They are the political tourists who attach themselves to whoever holds the microphone and the purse then betray them and find another host to leech again. They could not win a ward councillorship without standing on another man’s structure. They have no history of political triumph in and of themselves. And now, terrified that the lion might walk out of the cage and remind the people of what real leadership looks like, they are begging for the detention to continue. Paper tigers. That is what they are. Paper tigers roaring at a lion behind bars because they know that if the bars were removed, they would scatter like leaves in a storm. Their fear is understandable. El-Rufai’s greatest strength was never in the Government House. It was never in the ministerial chambers. It was never in the boardroom of the APC or the corridors of power. His greatest strength is the people. Not just in Kaduna, though Kaduna knows him best. Across Nigeria, there are people who remember a man who spoke truth to power when it was dangerous. Who stood against the naira redesign policy not because it hurt his party’s chances, but because he saw ordinary Nigerians suffering at the ATM queues, unable to buy food, unable to transport themselves to work. He said it plainly, without fear of the cabal in Aso Rock: the president made a mistake. How many of those now calling him a criminal had the courage to say that? Not one. They were too busy calculating how to position themselves for the next round of appointments.