By Joyce Ekeh
The Allied People’s Movement (APM) has challenged President Bola Tinubu to disclose his actual destination, urging him to remain in Nigeria to pray for the country and address the hardship confronting millions of citizens.
The party questioned the purpose of the President’s announced lesser Hajj pilgrimage, arguing that the country’s mounting economic and social challenges required his attention at home rather than his departure from Nigeria.
In a press statement, APM National Publicity Secretary, Abubakar Yusuf, said the President should not use religious pilgrimage as a distraction from the problems facing Nigerians.
“Lesser Hajj involves prayer and supplications, but not an opportunity to do the unusual or as a cover to do other things,” Yusuf said.
Accusing the Tinubu administration of worsening the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians, the APM spokesman argued that the President should concentrate on finding solutions to the difficulties confronting citizens.
“You cannot pray for the problems you have inflicted on ordinary Nigerians, rather than staying here to resolve the heavily burdened, self-contrived problems on the citizens,” he said.
Yusuf also invoked the popular expression, “Andrew, check out,” urging Tinubu not to leave the country at a time when Nigerians were grappling with economic difficulties.
“Let Mr President not behave like ‘Andrew’ of those days, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not check out,” he said.
The APM spokesman subsequently shifted attention to the 2027 presidential election, expressing doubts about Tinubu’s electoral prospects in parts of the country.
He claimed that the President could struggle to secure the constitutionally required 25 per cent of votes in 12 selected states, challenging him to consider the implications of the current political climate for his re-election bid.
Yusuf also expressed confidence that the APM’s presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, would defeat Tinubu in 2027.
Describing Makinde as a workaholic and energetic politician, he said the party’s candidate was prepared to challenge Tinubu’s political dominance in the South-West and across the country.
The party’s comments add to the political criticism facing the President as opposition figures seek to make economic hardship, governance and the administration’s policy choices central issues ahead of the 2027 general election.
