*As Akpabio Confirms INEC Chairman’s Tweet
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President Bola Tinubu has publicly joked about sending Senate President Godswill Akpabio to “the other side” to “scatter” the opposition, describing opposition parties as “confused” a remark that drew attention not only for its combative humour but for what critics say it reveals about the ruling party’s attitude toward democratic competition and the independence of institutions.
The joke came during Tinubu’s speech at the inauguration of the Nigeria Revenue Service headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, where both the President and the Senate President used the platform to mock the opposition, comment on the INEC chairman’s social media controversy, and allege that the current surge in insecurity across Nigeria is politically motivated and linked to the 2027 elections.
Tinubu’s remark was directed at Akpabio during the formal event.
“Senate President, I will send you to the other side to represent me. And then you can scatter them to any way you want,” Tinubu stated.
He added dismissively: “They’re confused!”
The President concluded his speech with: “God bless Nigeria, God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria and the tax collectors.”
While delivered as a joke, the remark has been interpreted by opposition figures and political commentators as more than humour a window into the ruling party’s strategy of actively working to weaken and fragment opposition parties rather than competing with them on policy and governance.
The “scatter them” language is particularly striking given the current state of Nigeria’s opposition landscape, where the ADC is paralysed by multiple court cases and INEC derecognition, the PDP remains split between rival factions, and opposition parties have collectively described the Electoral Act 2026 as designed to give the ruling party undue advantage.
Critics argue that when the President of a democratic country publicly jokes about “scattering” the opposition, it confirms what opposition leaders have long alleged that the ADC’s leadership crisis, INEC’s actions, and the legal challenges facing opposition parties are not coincidental but are part of a coordinated strategy to ensure the ruling APC faces no credible challenger in 2027.
In what may prove to be the most consequential moment of the event, Akpabio addressed the ongoing controversy over the INEC chairman’s alleged “Victory is sure” social media post and in doing so, effectively confirmed the tweet’s authenticity while attempting to defend it.
“Then they brought out a tweet where the INEC chairman allegedly said ‘Victory is sure.’ But he didn’t say victory is sure for APC or PDP,” Akpabio stated.
He then added: “But the man said it’s manipulated and nobody wants to hear.”
In a critical shift, Akpabio then offered what amounted to an alternative defence that implicitly acknowledged the tweet was genuine: “For me, whether manipulated or not, he said victory is sure. He was not chairman of INEC then; he was just a lecturer, and anybody can support whoever he wishes to.”
The statement creates an immediate and devastating contradiction with INEC’s official position. The commission has categorically denied that Chairman Amupitan ever operated any personal X account, describing the allegations as “total fabrication” and claiming the account was operated by cybercriminals.
Akpabio’s defence “whether manipulated or not, he said victory is sure” accepts the fundamental premise that the post was made by Amupitan, while arguing it should be excused because he was not yet INEC chairman at the time.
This is a fundamentally different argument from “it’s not his account” or “it was fabricated.” Akpabio’s position is: he said it, but it doesn’t matter because he wasn’t INEC chairman yet.
Nigerians on social media immediately seized on the contradiction, with many arguing that Akpabio had scored “another own goal” by confirming what INEC had spent days denying.
“From ‘not his account’ to ‘he didn’t mention any party’ these people have no shame,” one user wrote. “Finally, they’ve admitted he has an X account and the comment was not fabricated,” another stated.
In a separate but equally controversial claim, Akpabio alleged that the recent surge in insecurity across Nigeria is politically motivated and linked to the 2027 general elections.
The allegation suggests that the Senate President believes the attacks by Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, and other armed groups which have killed soldiers including Brigadier General Oseni Braimah, devastated communities like Ngoshe, Pulka, and Benisheikh, and prompted a US travel advisory covering 23 states are being orchestrated or encouraged as part of a political strategy to discredit the Tinubu administration ahead of 2027.
The claim is likely to draw sharp criticism from multiple quarters from the military, which has lost senior officers in genuine combat; from affected communities, which have experienced devastating violence; from security analysts, who have documented the operational capacities of insurgent groups; and from opposition politicians, who are likely to view the claim as an attempt to deflect accountability for governance failures onto political opponents.
Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South one of the worst-affected areas has publicly stated that soldiers are being outgunned due to inadequate equipment. Governor Zulum of Borno State has revealed that intelligence was available three days before the Benisheikh attack that killed Brigadier General Braimah. These accounts from individuals with firsthand knowledge of the security situation sit in stark contrast to Akpabio’s characterisation of insecurity as politically motivated.
Akpabio also mocked the opposition’s electoral prospects, arguing that opposition parties lack the structures needed to win elections.
“How do you win an election when you don’t have a structure? No political party is stable again in this country,” Akpabio stated.
The remark, while aimed at the opposition, inadvertently raises questions about why opposition parties are unstable and whether the instability is organic or, as opposition leaders have alleged, deliberately engineered by the ruling party through institutional interference, INEC manipulation, and the financing of internal party disputes.
Tuesday’s event at the NRS headquarters was meant to be about tax administration reform. Instead, it became a platform for the President and the Senate President to mock the opposition, comment on the INEC controversy, and make claims about politically motivated insecurity.
For the opposition, the “scatter them” joke and Akpabio’s implicit confirmation of the INEC chairman’s tweet represent the clearest evidence yet of what they have been alleging: that the ruling party views the destruction of opposition as a legitimate political strategy, and that the independence of INEC is compromised at the highest levels.
For INEC, Akpabio’s statement creates an institutional crisis. The commission has maintained that the “Victory is sure” tweet was fabricated. The Senate President — the third-highest ranking official in the country has now publicly stated “whether manipulated or not, he said victory is sure” and defended it on the basis that Amupitan was “just a lecturer” at the time. The two positions cannot coexist.
For Nigerians watching the democratic process unfold, the spectacle of the President joking about scattering the opposition and the Senate President confirming what INEC denies all at the inauguration of a tax office captures the state of Nigeria’s democracy in a single afternoon.
As one social media commentator noted: “This really speaks volumes about the intellectual capacity of those who lead and make laws for us.”
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