“A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.”
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Politics is globally acknowledged as a game of intrigue, which explains why political parties, their candidates and supporters deploy all manner of strategies to outwit one another. This is particularly evident during the campaign season that precedes an election. At the moment, the campaign veil has been lifted as a prelude to the general elections in early 2027, and politicians across the country, from various political parties, are leaving nothing to chance.
Politicians have a right to sell their party manifestos, if there are really any effective ones in their true form. They are also legally justified to promote their candidacies through all legal, decent and decorous means aimed at convincing the electorate to elect or re-elect them. But are politicians in the country truly doing this as they pursue their electoral aspirations? The answer is no.
Most politicians, ostensibly with the tacit support of their political parties, have adopted the Yoruba saying: “Patapata la a foju, furofuro la a dete. Oju afo n fo tan ija ni idale…” The Machiavellian principle that the end justifies the means aptly explains this vernacular phrase.
Sadly, the political turf is replete with politicians, irrespective of class and status, who throw decorum to the wind by publicly making statements that are not only unbefitting of their status but also indefensible and embarrassing to their families and associates. Their inflammatory statements are made out of sheer zeal to be seen as demonstrating unalloyed loyalty to their paymasters, to the detriment of their own integrity and the wellbeing of society.
An elder statesman is not expected to make careless and baseless statements, but Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a veteran presidential candidate, did just that recently. Having nothing else with which to tarnish President Bola Tinubu’s reputation, he described him as a ninety-year-old man.
How is this plausible when Chief Bisi Akande and Akinrogun Segun Osoba, two former governors of Osun and Ogun States respectively, who are widely known to be Tinubu’s seniors in age, are yet to clock ninety? Politics is truly a dirty game because players, irrespective of age or status, shamelessly prefer to make it so.
Atiku’s utterance demonstrates a clear lack of self respect and regard for truth. Yet he may get away with this defamatory claim in the name of playing crude politics. If someone of Atiku’s calibre can make such a claim under the guise of politics and pursuit of ambition, would he not do worse if given the mandate to govern? It is left for Nigerians to decide.
Atiku is not the only one who has made flippant statements in this electoral season that should not be condoned in any civilised society. Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo, Chairman of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, was caught on video telling residents to either support his political party, the APC, or leave the area council. His remark is preposterous, even though he later recanted after the damage had already been done. His uncouth remark is unbefitting of a public official.
Also, Saint Buba, Borno State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, during an event in Maiduguri on Saturday, August 29, 2026, reportedly warned that those who “raised their fingers” against the state government he is serving would have them cut off or broken. What shameful intimidation of eligible voters does such a deplorable statement promote?
Alhaji Mohammad Gadaka, Yobe State APC Chairman, has been under attack since publicly telling women to divorce their husbands if they (husbands) prevented them from voting for his party. He unguardedly promised to pay their dowry and marry them himself. Though he has since withdrawn his derogatory statement, it was obviously a joke carried too far in a northern culture that is ultra-sensitive about female gender.
Furthermore, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, representing Osun East Senatorial District under APC, cannot be forgotten for his infamous game of irresponsible loquacity. In the days preceding the August 15, 2026 governorship election in his state, Fadahunsi made statements that threatened citizens’ right to life and freedom of civic choice. Like others involved in such thoughtless outbursts, he recanted, but only after honouring a police invitation.
In Edo State, an aide to Governor Monday Okpebholo, ‘Apostle’ Kassy Chukwu, recently declared David Adeleke, the superstar Afrobeats musician globally known as Davido, persona non grata in Edo State. The state governor immediately dissociated himself from the aide’s senseless action.
As if these condemnable instances were not enough, and as if no lessons had been learnt, Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, at his mid-week inauguration of newly elected chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the thirteen local government areas in Abakaliki, the state capital, shamefully declared: “Any chairman who fails to win his council will be removed from office and replaced with a councillor. I want this information to be on the headlines of newspapers because, as politicians, we will not speak in secret… We will win in the state, and if they choose to sleep and allow others to take their areas, they will be removed.”
Nwifuru’s statement is not only reprehensible but also contemptuous of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, the grundnorm of the country, which guarantees “a system of local government by democratically elected local government councils.”
And in case Governor Nwifuru has forgotten, losing an election within a local council jurisdiction to another political party is not one of the grounds known to law for the removal of an elected council chairman. His statement is clearly a precursor to do-or-die politics—apologies to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is an avowed democratic tyrant.
Without doubt, unguarded utterances remain unacceptable, as does any attempt by politicians, their supporters or anyone to weaponise fake news and voter suppression campaigns. This is because they pose serious peril to democracy and peaceful polity, especially during this electioneering cycle.
Before any politician makes any derogatory and illegal statements, it is better for them to hearken to the biblical provision in Proverbs 13:3 which states: “He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites ruin.”
On this note, I rest my case for this week but not without adding an admonition to politicians to note that the only permanent thing in politics is interest, not enemies. One hopes that the desired message is being decoded herein.
•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, is currently Managing Partner at AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS. (WhatsApp only: 07011117777).
