President Bola Tinubu turned a routine building commissioning into a stand-up routine on Tuesday, aiming a barb at Senate President Godswil Akpabio while inaugurating the Nigeria Revenue Service headquarters. "Senate President, I will send you to the other side to represent me, and then you can scatter them anyway you like. They're confused," the President quipped, drawing laughter from the audience. The joke landed as the African Democratic Congress fumes over claims that the ruling All Progressives Congress is trying to rock its boat; ADC says it has been blocked from hiring event venues, an accusation FCT Minister Nyesom Wike rejected only a day earlier.
Tinubu's "other side" crack is not just banter; it is a calculated reminder to Akpabio that loyalty tests can come wrapped in humour. By publicly dangling the threat of banishment—thinly veiled as a joke—the President keeps the Senate President on a short leash while the ruling party deals with a smaller opposition.
The timing matters. ADC's cry of intimidation suggests the APC is already squeezing smaller parties ahead of off-cycle elections, and Tinubu's jest signals that the presidency is watching who stays in line. Akpabio, once a PDP governor and now APC's top legislator, knows better than most that the "other side" can mean political Siberia.
For ordinary Nigerians, the spectacle translates into shrinking space for alternative voices. When the third-largest party struggles to rent a hall while the President jokes about banishing his own ally, voters who rely on opposition platforms to hold government accountable are left with fewer options.
This fits a pattern: under the Buhari administration, opposition lawmakers defected in droves after similar "persuasion"; today, the same playbook is being reprised with a smile.
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