Barely three months before the January 16, 2027, presidential election, politicians are already heating up the polity with their political statements. Some of the statements are capable of causing upheaval, ethnic division and tribal resentment, while others could tarnish the reputations of individuals. However, the implications of some of these statements, particularly those capable of triggering a crisis, are of grave concern to Nigerians. Recently, the chairman of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Jarret Tenebe, threatened to deploy AK-47 firearms against anyone who stood against the party’s plan to deliver 2.5 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. Tenebe issued the threat publicly while addressing APC supporters at a gathering in Benin City following the recent local government council election. He said the state governor, Monday Okpebholo, had promised Tinubu 2.5 million votes from the state. He stressed that the party would work to prove that the target was achievable and warned that anyone who attempted to frustrate the party’s efforts to achieve the feat would face the firepower of AK-47 rifles. He claimed that the APC secured 2,158,600 votes in the state’s recent local government election, describing the figure as a feat that had never been recorded in any state before. Referring to people he said might attempt to frustrate the party’s plans to deliver the target number of votes, he made reference to firearms, saying: “Those who do not wish us well, who want to create an obstacle for us, I have a prayer for you. “So, anybody who refuses, who wants to stand in our way, for us not to have those votes that we intend to give to Mr President, AK-47 fire.” Tenebe’s remarks came amid a series of statements by political actors ahead of the 2027 general election. In September, Sainna Buba, Borno State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, warned critics of the Babagana Zulum administration that those who “raise” their fingers against the government would have theirs cut off. Buba spoke at a campaign inauguration organised by the City Boy Movement, a political support organisation backing Tinubu’s second-term bid. In another incident, Muhammad Gadaka, the APC chairman in Yobe State, told women at a political rally in Nangere Local Government Area that he would pay the bride price of women whose husbands divorced them for voting for the ruling party. Gadaka later apologised, saying his remark had been misunderstood and was intended as a joke based on a traditional relationship between the Gamawa and Kare-Kare communities. Also, Danjuma Shekwolo, chairman of the Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), told residents to support the APC or leave the council. Shekwolo later backtracked, saying the remark was made at a meeting with APC youths and loyalists and was not intended to deny residents their rights based on their political affiliations. In Osun State, Francis Fadahunsi, the senator representing Osun East, asked his supporters to attack members of the Accord Party ahead of the state’s August 15 governorship election. Analysts believe that Tenebe’s statement amounts to saying that anyone opposed to Tinubu’s re-election in Edo State risks being killed with an AK-47 rifle or sustaining gunshot injuries....
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