With the 2027 presidential election some months away, candidates have begun making a barrage of soundbites. But before the campaign season gets into full swing, Peoples Gazette revisits some of the defining moments from the 2023 presidential race, from Bola Tinubu’s “Emi lokan” and “Bulaba, Blu” to Peter Obi’s “Yes, daddy” audio plus his crusade-like invocation of a religious war and Atiku Abubakar’s leaked SPV tape.

Peter Obi’s low moments

One of the major low moments that shaped Mr Obi’s presidential bid in 2023 was his leaked telephone conversation with Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel) on the eve of the election. In the leaked conversation, the now-NDC chieftain could be heard begging the cleric to help mobilise Christian voters in the South-West and North-Central regions, including Kwara, Niger and Kogi.

“Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara,” Mr Obi said in the audio obtained by The Gazette. “This is a religious war.”

“I believe that, I believe that, I believe that,” Mr Oyedepo said.

“Like I keep saying: if this works, you people will never regret the support,” Mr Obi said with candour, adding that Christians in places like Kogi, Kwara and Niger had been difficult to penetrate.

“We look forward to God’s intervention,” Mr Oyedepo said, promising to circulate more messages to Christians on Mr Obi’s behalf.

The conversation triggered backlash, especially from his critics and political adversaries who accused Mr Obi of exploiting religious sentiments as a pathway to the presidency.

In a lame attempt to deny The Gazette’s expose, Mr Obi threatened a lawsuit.

Doyin Okupe’s resignation as Obi’s campaign chief

In the heat of the campaign ahead of the 2023 presidential election, Doyin Okupe, one of Mr Obi’s closest political allies and the director general of his campaign council, was convicted of money laundering by the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

Mr Okupe, who immediately stepped downamid public outrage, said he decided to avoid staining the campaign’s anti-corruption message and distracting Mr Obi’s presidential bid. Although Mr Obi welcomed Mr Okupe’s resignation and acknowledged his efforts in the struggle for a better country, the corruption scandal affected his campaign rhythm, culminating in his loss.

The London Heathrow Airport ordeal

Weeks after the controversial presidential poll, Mr Obi made headlines when immigration officials detained and questioned him at Heathrow Airport in London. The incident followed an identity duplication issue, involving an imposter who may have been impersonating the politician to perpetrate illegal and criminal activities in the United Kingdom.

While Mr Obi was later released the same day, the development stirred controversy in the politician’s camp, with many of his supporters accusing opposition parties of planting impersonators to bring his reputation into disrepute on foreign soil.

Tinubu: “Emilokan”, “Bala Blu, Blu lu, Bulaba”, “Gazelle Gagaraga” and other stories

Emilokan (Yoruba for “it is my turn”) became a defining catchphrase for Mr Tinubu’s campaign in June 2022 after he flayed the Muhammadu Buhari regime for trying to sabotage his presidential bid in the All Progressives Congress primary elections. In a meeting with APC delegates in Abeokuta in June 2022, Mr Tinubu said he offered succour and support to Mr Buhari, who cried on television after he lost the presidential election for the third time in a row. Mr Tinubu referenced an unwritten power arrangement between the North and South, implying he also expected Mr Buhari to reciprocate the same support for his 2023 presidential ambition.

“I didn’t beg him for contracts, I never begged him for garri, I never begged him for fura and I never borrowed money from him,” Mr Tinubu said of Mr Buhari’s administration. “But I insisted it is Yoruba’s turn and when it comes to Yoruba it is my turn (Emi lokan).”

On January 5, 2023, All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu delivered another inscrutable line at a campaign trail. This habit became becoming a major talking point. Speaking to supporters in Edo on that day, Mr Tinubu said his vision was to “turn so-called Yahoo-Yahoo boys into experts in manufacturing and creation of chips rather than being gazelle gagaraga.”

Yahoo boys, in local parlance, means internet fraudsters, but The Gazette could not immediately find the meaning of the term “gazelle gagaraga” despite searches in major dictionaries and thesauruses.
Although Mr Tinubu put up a ferocious fight in the 2023 presidential election, his campaign was marred by gaffes and word salads that led most Nigerians to question his mental acuity to hold office.

On one such occasion in Imo State during an APC town hall meeting in November 2022, Mr Tinubu struggled to speak coherently.

“A town hall, different from balablu-blulu-bulaba,” said the Nigerian leader, who was at the time a candidate.

Mr Tinubu came under intense ridicule as Nigerians created memes and skits from the misspeak. Mr Tinubu’s supporters, including the aviation minister, Festus Keyamo, dismissed concerns about Mr Tinubu’s health, downplaying it as an attempt at humour.

Atiku’s articulated deletion and SPV

In 2022, Atiku Abubakar, then a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, deleted a tweet criticising the killing of Deborah Samuel, a Christian student who was lynched over alleged blasphemy. Ms Samuel was murdered at Shehu Shagari College of Education in May 2022 in a jungle justice-style attack for allegedly asking her colleagues to stop bombarding the class WhatsApp group with Islamic messages.

Her comment triggered the wrath of Islamic fanatics who cornered Ms Samuel, pelted her with stones and poured fuel on her body. She was burnt alive amid jeers over alleged blasphemy.

“There can not be a justification for such gruesome murder. Deborah Yakubu was murdered, and all those behind her death must be brought to justice,” Mr Abubakar said in the post. “My condolences to her family and friends.”

But the presidential hopeful rushed to delete the post on Facebook and Twitter shortly after Islamic netizens threatened not to cast their vote for him. Mr Abubakar claimed his media team posted it without his approval.

“This evening I received information that a post was made that doesn’t agree with my orders. I use this to announce that any post without A.A. is not from me. May God protect us,” Mr Abubakar wrote in a follow-up post.

Mike Achimugu, formerly Mr Abubakar’s close associate, leaked an audio tape of the former vice president admitting that he used Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to steal government funds for himself and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. In the leaked audio, Mr Abubakar could be heard narrating how he took charge of establishing onshore shell businesses to serve as a conduit for cornering vast amounts from public works contracts for himself and Mr Obasanjo.

“What happened was when we came into office, and I advised the president against open corruption. I told him to give me three people you trust, and I will prepare three companies in which they will be subscribers or rather the directors,” Mr Abubakar said in the leaked tape. “An SPV is a special-purpose vehicle. It is a company they incorporate to carry out certain activities,” Mr Abubakar said on the tape. “So that if there is any contract that we give, they will act like consultants, and they are given a fee. That fee is what we use to fund the party.”

Mr Achimugu leaked the tape ahead of the February 2023 poll, saying it was “to warn Nigerians and educate them before the elections to prevent them from making the greatest mistake ever”.

According to Mr Achimugu, “If Nigerians think that they have seen corruption before, let them wait until they make the mistake of voting the Atiku family into office,” Mr Achimugu said in a TVC interview.

Mr Achimugu subsequently switched allegiance to Mr Tinubu, who appointed him as director, public affairs and consumer protection at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority in December 2023.