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The All Progressives Congress (APC) women wing, under a newly inaugurated grassroots mobilization platform called the Tinubu Torchbearers, recently visited the wife of the President, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja. The visibly elated women, comprising the APC national, state and local government women leaders from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), gleefully sang President Bola Tinubu’s campaign song, “On your mandate we shall stand.”
The gathering in Aso Villa centred on grassroots mobilization, trust-building among supporters and how to rally political support for President Tinubu toward the 2027 general election. A happy First Lady gifted the women leaders with eight operational buses branded “Tinubu Torchbearers”.
She particularly emphasized support for those operating in states governed by opposition parties. In furtherance of this objective, Mrs. Tinubu donated cars to APC women leaders in five states controlled by the opposition, namely, Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Osun and Oyo states. As she put it, “The vehicles are your personal vehicles. You are not giving them to the party. Register them in your names and use them for the service of the party and your communities.”
It is highly insensitive that this kind of politicking is going on when Nigeria is witnessing the worst form of insecurity; when many Nigerian children and their fellow women are held captive in the forests by terrorists. The APC women and some other sympathizers of the President have failed to realize that we are standing on a collapsing mandate and should have gone into hiding until we get to the root of these abductions and killings that have enveloped the country.
As of press time on Sunday, June 7, 2026, the schoolchildren kidnapped from their schools in Oyo and Borno states on May 15, 2026, are yet to be freed. Terrorists invaded three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State that fateful day to kidnap 39 children and seven teachers. They killed two people that day and later beheaded one of the abducted staff in captivity.
In Askira-Uba LGA of Borno State, 42 schoolchildren were also abducted from their school the same May 15. Some of them are as young as two years. They are yet to be released. Between March 2024 and May 2026, over 600 students and teachers were said to have been kidnapped across schools in Nigeria.
Any parent worth the name daddy or mummy will wake up every morning praying for the safe release of these innocent kids. Sometimes, I shed tears when I imagine what they could be going through in the forest where they are being held captive. Campaigning and singing songs of a broken mandate when every discussion should centre on how to rescue the abductees is unimaginable. It is shameful and unfortunate!
Besides the abduction of these school kids, many other atrocious crimes have occurred with impunity in different parts of the country. On May 24, terrorists invaded Yashikira community in Baruten LGA of Kwara State. They set the emir’s palace ablaze, kidnapped his wives and several residents, including women and children. Again, these people are yet to regain their freedom.
On May 30, terrorists abducted former Director of Defence Information, Major General Rabe Abubakar Batsari (retd), and his wife on Marabar Musawa-Kafinsoli Road in Matazu LGA of Katsina State. The demand of the bandits is that government should release their gang members in detention before they release the General and his wife.
This is yet to be resolved when another set of bandits abducted the younger sister of the former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, and her twin sons in Ibadan. This happened on June 3. The woman, Mrs. Olaide Busayo Adegoke John-Paul, was taking her twin sons, Peter and Paul, to school when the incident happened. Luckily, these ones have been rescued.
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Just last Friday, Boko Haram terrorists overran a military base in Mandara-Girau in Biu LGA of Borno State. They reportedly killed and beheaded no fewer than five soldiers and three members of the Civilian Joint Task Force. Military authorities said troops contained the attack despite adverse weather conditions and poor visibility caused by heavy rainfall.
In Anambra State, on May 31, some gunmen gunned down two police officers and two civilians in the convoy of Dr. Ben Nwankwo, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. The incident happened on the Amansea-Ndiora-Ndiukwuenu-Awa-Ufuma Road. The CoS was lucky to have escaped alive.
There have been many more killings and abductions in recent times in places like Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Kogi states. In many of these incidents, there has not been any headway in terms of apprehending the perpetrators. And some of us are not ashamed to sing “On your mandate we shall stand.”
Some Nigerians were deceived to stand on this so-called mandate in 2023. Then, the mandate holder asked Nigerians not to return him to power, if he failed to solve the country’s electricity problem. Today, the power situation has worsened. And they are still disturbing our eardrums with the discordant mandate tune.
Sadly, many Nigerian households are going through excruciating hardship currently. Some breadwinners cannot even provide food for their families anymore. In its latest Cost of a Healthy Diet report (CoHD), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that the national average cost of a healthy diet rose from N1,477 in March 2025 to N1,541 per adult per day in March 2026.
Though the South-East is said to be the most expensive region with an average cost of N1,899 per day, Ekiti State recorded the highest average cost at N2,091 per adult per day. I believe this is even a conservative estimate. A large family whose breadwinner receives N70,000 minimum wage will be worse off. For many of these families, animal-sourced proteins like meat and fish, which make up about 39 per cent of a healthy diet budget, have disappeared from the menu. It is not that they don’t like them. They do, but they cannot afford them.
Also expensive and unaffordable to many families now are cooking gas and some other commodities. From about N13,000, the price of a 12.5kg of cooking gas has skyrocketed to about N25,000. And that is if you see it to buy. Nigerians are used to the high cost of fuel, which has made the cost of transportation very high. Little wonder, about two million Nigerian children under five suffer from severe acute malnutrition. About 11 million children experienced severe child food poverty in Nigeria in 2024.
I cannot really think of any sector one can say we have excelled in. The government has boasted of macroeconomic gains. This means more money for the people in government with little or nothing for the masses. They will probably have more money for the Office of the First Lady, which may translate to more cars for APC loyalists and campaign coordinators.
There is more money in the national coffers, but very little of it is set aside for education and health sectors. Presidential jet alone gulped about $100 million, but the Health ministry got a paltry N36 million out of the budgeted N218 billion in 2025 for capital projects. They will pay peanuts to teachers and lecturers but spend billions of naira on lawmakers’ vehicles alone and N21 billion to construct the residence of the Vice-President. Yet, they want us to stand on their so-called mandate.
Governance is measured by compassion for the governed. Our current mandate holders do not have that. In the top 10 most prosperous countries in Africa in 2026, Nigeria is missing. According to the latest Atlantic Council’s 2026 Prosperity Index, the top 10 most prosperous countries in Africa are Seychelles, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Senegal, Lesotho, and The Gambia. Prosperity index evaluates economies based on wealth, governance, education, health care and personal freedoms.
Seychelles is ranked as Africa’s most prosperous country and 39th globally in 2026. The country stands out because it reportedly combines high incomes with strong health care, education and political stability, among others. Mauritius, regarded as one of the most stable and prosperous in Africa, boasts of strong institutions, a high Human Development Index, quality health care and education and a diversified economy. Countries like Cabo Verde and Botswana have excellent democratic governance, investments in education and health care, strong rule of law and prudent fiscal management. Nigeria’s West African neighbour, Ghana, has political stability, high levels of civil liberties and a steady economic growth as well as investments in education and health care.
In most of these countries, investments in education and health care as well as good democratic governance happen to be a common denominator that made them prosperous countries. Since the mandate song composers and singers have failed Nigeria on these scores, they should prepare to hand over to more competent people in 2027. Obviously, the 2023 mandate is gradually fizzling out. Standing on it again in 2027 will be a tragedy!
