RENEWED LIES:12 Simple Questions Tinubu Must Answer In Kaduna State - By Mohammed Bello Doka.

Today, 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

On December 12, 2022, in Kaduna, you promised: "We will establish the marketing board that will give you the right prices, that will give you comfort in your homes and make you better people." You also pledged to prioritise agriculture for food sufficiency. Since then, food inflation surged above 30% through much of 2024, easing to 10.84% year-on-year by December 2025 largely on a revised methodology and base effect, yet still far above the pre-2023 baseline. Which marketing boards have been established, what price guarantees exist, and what verifiable federal investment has reached Kaduna and the North-West?

6. Jobs: where are the one million digital jobs?

You repeatedly promised to create one million new jobs in the digital economy, particularly for young people, and to create jobs across the country. What is the verified number of jobs created since May 29, 2023 — federal, digital, and otherwise — with source data? How many of those are in Kaduna and the North-West? The National Bureau of Statistics reported unemployment rising to 5.3% in Q1 2024 from 5.0% in Q3 2023, with youth unemployment at 8.4%. But even that figure is built on a revised methodology that counts anyone working for pay or profit as employed — a statistical sleight of hand that collapsed the headline rate from 33% without a single new factory or formal job to show for it. And there is still no published ledger of the promised one million digital jobs.

7. Industrialisation: how many industries has your administration helped to build or refurbish in the entire North-West?

You pledged widespread industrialisation and completion of the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) gas pipeline. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported that 767 manufacturing companies shut down as of 2023, with over 18,000 jobs lost in 2024 alone. Manufacturers' spending on alternative energy rose to ₦1.11 trillion in 2024, a 42.3% increase from ₦781.68 billion in 2023, and climbed further to ₦1.35 trillion in 2025. The Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) estimates that about two million micro, small and medium enterprises collapsed within the first three years of your administration, citing fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate reforms and escalating operating costs as primary causes. How many industries has your administration built or refurbished in the North-West, and what is the AKK pipeline status?

8. Oyo vs. Borno abductions: does a Northern life matter less?

Explain the rationale behind the approach to the abduction of Oyo school students and those in the North. When Borno schoolgirls were abducted around the same period as the Oyo children, why was there no comparable delegation, security rescue effort, and level of presidential seriousness? Does the life of a Northerner matter to you?

9. Sunday Igboho vs. Northern traditional rulers: why did you listen to Yoruba monarchs and ignore Northern royals?

Why did your administration act on the pleas of Yoruba monarchs regarding Sunday Igboho's status on the wanted/terrorist list, yet ignore Northern traditional rulers on comparable security and justice questions as it relates to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai? What is the principle behind the different treatment?

10. When your office asked us to hold our governors to account, how do you suggest we do that?

Your office has publicly urged citizens to hold state governors accountable. Given that security, policing, and much of the fiscal framework sit with the Federal Government, what specific mechanisms — constitutional, fiscal, or oversight — do you propose citizens use, and will the Federal Government publish state-by-state performance data to make that accountability possible?

11. The Kaduna rally pledge — what happened to the promises you made on this same ground?

On December 12, 2022, you stood in Kaduna and said: "We will create jobs. We will establish the marketing board that will give you the right prices, that will give you comfort in your homes and make you better people." You also vowed to eliminate bandits and kidnappers and to complete the AKK gas pipeline. Standing on that same ground today: which of those specific Kaduna promises have you kept, which have you abandoned, and why should Kaduna trust a second round?

12. If you were in our shoes, would you trust your promises a second time?

As a Muslim, you know the saying attributed to the Prophet (SAW) that a believer is not stung twice from the same hole — "A believer is not stung twice from the same hole" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6133, Sahih Muslim 2998). If you stood where Kaduna stands today, would you trust your 2022/2023 promises again?

The crowds will cheer tomorrow. The promises will fly. And in four years, another rally, another stage, another set of lies. But Abraham Lincoln's warning endures: you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Kaduna is watching. Nigeria is counting. And the lies are no longer renewed — they are remembered.

Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com

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