In October 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan stood in Jerusalem as a pilgrim. Five months later, on 28 March 2015, Nigerians went to the polls and gave the presidency to another man. Jonathan picked up the telephone, congratulated the winner and walked into history as a democrat.
The prayers in Jerusalem were sincere. The verdict at the ballot box was sincere too. Only one of them decided who would govern Nigeria.
On Thursday, 29 October 2026, President Bola Tinubu left Abuja for Makkah to perform Umrah. A day later, Saudi Arabia's official news agency reported that he had performed the rites at the Grand Mosque.
A man at prayer stands between himself and his Maker. That is not our quarrel. Our quarrel begins where the Presidency itself drew the line.
*A pilgrimage can carry a man to the holy city. Only the people can carry him back to Aso Rock.*
THE PRESIDENCY'S OWN WORD
Before the President boarded, his aide Olusegun Dada answered the critics. Tinubu, he said, had performed Umrah twice in 2022, and his prayers were answered on both occasions. Going again was simply sticking to a potent strategy.
Read that again. Strategy.
2022 was the year Tinubu chased and won his party's presidential ticket. Now, 76 days before he faces the electorate, his own aide presents the journey to Makkah as a repeat of a winning method. The Presidency, not The Narrative Force, has placed the pilgrimage on the electoral calendar.
So let us answer it on that ground. No act of worship has ever been an electoral strategy in a republic. The mandate does not come down from the minaret or the pulpit. It comes up from the polling unit, from millions of thumbs pressed in ink by citizens who have weighed their lives and made a judgement.
GOD SEES THE HEART. NIGERIANS MUST EXAMINE THE RECORD
The Bible says: "For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7, King James Version.
A Muslim brother reminded me that the Qur'an teaches the same truth: "Whether you conceal what is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knows it." Surah Ali 'Imran 3:29, Sahih International.
Both scriptures say one thing. The heart belongs to God. No photograph at a sacred site can show it, and no citizen can claim to read it.
But a President's record belongs to the people. It is written in their kitchens, their markets, their farms, their hospital queues and their children's school fees. That record does not need a prophet to interpret it. It needs only an honest voter.
THE QUESTIONS NO PILGRIMAGE CAN ANSWER
Go to Okene and ask the Ebira cloth trader whether she can still plan her stock for the next month, or whether every trip to the market has become a gamble on the price of transport.
Go to the farm settlements of Benue and ask the Tiv farmer whether he can walk to his own land at dawn without fear, and whether he can sell what he harvests at a price that feeds his household.
Go to Katsina and ask the Hausa mother how many meals her family now shares in a day, and what she gave up to keep her daughter in school.
Go to Nnewi and ask the Igbo spare parts dealer what the cost of credit has done to a business his father built and he hoped to hand to his son.
Go to Yola and ask the young Fulani graduate, certificate in hand, whether he sees a credible road to work, or only the road out of the country.
Go to Ikole in Ekiti and ask the teacher what a 70,000 naira minimum wage buys after transport, rent and food have taken their share.
These are the questions of 16 January 2027. They will not be settled in Makkah, in Jerusalem or in any cathedral. They will be settled in the polling unit, one citizen at a time.
*Every Nigerian has a right to answer those questions honestly, and to vote accordingly.*
WHY ATIKU, ON HIS OWN RECORD
My conviction is that Nigeria needs a new direction under Atiku Abubakar, and I do not rest that conviction on anybody's failings. I rest it on what the man has done and what he has committed to do.
Under the 1999 Constitution, the Vice President chairs the National Economic Council. Under the Public Enterprises Act of 1999, he chairs the National Council on Privatisation. Atiku held both chairs from 1999 to 2007. Those were not ceremonial seats. They were the engine rooms of the most productive economic years of the Fourth Republic.
In that period Nigeria's economy grew from 58 billion dollars in 1999 to 270 billion dollars in 2007. External reserves rose from about 3.7 billion dollars to about 45 billion. Nigeria settled with the Paris Club in 2005, had about 18 billion dollars written off, and exited the debt by 2006. GSM licences were auctioned in 2001, when the whole country had fewer than 500,000 telephone lines. The Pension Reform Act of 2004 gave the Nigerian worker a retirement that could no longer be stolen at the stroke of a pen.
That is experience directed at practical results. It is the kind of record a voter can examine, line by line, and hold up against the present.
For 2027, Atiku has gone further. The Atiku Economic Recovery Plan is a committed set of plans, published in advance and placed before Nigerians to examine him and his intentions. Its spine is simple. Relief must reach the people who carried the pain. Savings must be accounted for, kobo by kobo. Support must move from importation to production, from middlemen to Nigerian refineries, from unverifiable claims to verifiable barrels. And the states must be empowered to compete and attain their full potential, because a Nigeria governed only from Abuja has never been a Nigeria fully alive.
That is why I support him. And my support carries an expectation: an Atiku presidency must deliver measurable progress. Nigerians deserve clear priorities, credible plans and a government that explains its decisions. Atiku has put his plans on the table before the vote, not after it. That is the posture of a man who expects to be measured.
*One kind of leader asks you to trust his prayers. Another hands you his plans and asks you to hold him to them.*
THE ARGUMENT MUST REACH WHERE THE PAIN BEGINS
Supporting Atiku should deepen our engagement with policy, not replace it. The strongest case for him reaches people where their questions begin.
For the trader, it is the cost of doing business. For the farmer, safety and access to markets. For the student, education and opportunity. For the worker, the value of a monthly salary. Our conversations must meet each of them there.
We listen as carefully as we speak. The man who voted for Tinubu in 2023 is still a fellow citizen, and he has every right to reconsider. Many already have. Persuasion grows on patience, accurate information and respect for a free mind.
Our weapon is the truth. Every claim we share is checked. Every figure we repeat has a source. A movement that asks for the trust of a nation must first be trusted with facts.
FROM CONVICTION TO THE QUEUE
Enthusiasm that never reaches the polling unit is noise.
Verify your registration through official INEC channels. Know your polling unit. Collect your PVC. If a family member, friend or neighbour has not collected theirs, take them, or show them where to go.
The arithmetic is not mysterious. There are about 176,000 polling units in Nigeria. If every Atiku supporter secures roughly 100 additional verified votes in his or her unit, the total passes 17 million before a single undecided voter is counted. That is how 20 million becomes a working target and not a slogan.
On 16 January 2027, vote peacefully and stay to watch the count. The Electoral Act 2026 makes electronic transmission of results a statutory duty. Know what the result sheet at your unit says, and know what appears on the INEC result viewing portal. Report any irregularity through the proper channels. A vote cast and guarded is a vote that counts.
HISTORY OFFERS REMINDERS. CITIZENS DECIDE WHAT FOLLOWS
Jonathan went to Jerusalem and the people still voted. Tinubu has gone to Makkah, and the people will still vote. Neither journey settles the question, because the question was never God's to delegate. He gave it to the citizen.
So let every believer pray, in the church, in the mosque, in the quiet of the home. Pray for Nigeria. Pray for peace. Pray for a free and fair election. Then rise from the prayer mat and the pew, collect your card, and walk to your polling unit.
Let our support move from the heart to the conversation, from the conversation to the community, and from the community to the ballot box.
In sha Allah, by the grace of God, the people will speak, and Nigeria will turn in a new direction.
76 days remain.
Pray as you will. Then vote as you must.
Aare Amerijoye DOT.B
Director General,
The Narrative Force
thenarrativeforce.org
2 November 2026
