Tinubu is “Owner of the Game” After APC’s 11 Million Vote Landslide

Tinubu is “Owner of the Game” After APC’s 11 Million Vote Landslide – Abati
Says Opposition Must Beat Tinubu’s 11 Million Votes to Win
Says APC primary process was not without controversy

Veteran journalist and former presidential aide, Reuben Abati, has described President Bola Tinubu’s performance in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary as a clear display of political dominance, saying it showed he was “the owner of the game.”

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Eko Hot Blog reports that on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Monday, Abati also raised questions around the reported figures from the exercise, suggesting that even basic vote counting appeared difficult during some of the primaries held over the weekend.

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According to him, Tinubu’s overwhelming victory, where he reportedly secured over 11 million votes against his challenger Stanley Osifo, who polled just over 1,000 votes, sent a strong political signal ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He said the outcome created what he described as a “demonstration effect” for opposition politicians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Abati noted that opposition candidates would now be expected to surpass the figures already recorded within the ruling party.

However, he also pointed out that the APC primary process was not without controversy, citing disagreements and protests over the adoption of consensus and direct primaries in some areas.

Abati said:

“I think we should get to a point in this country where we should start a Tinubu school of politics and strategy, because what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done over the weekend is to show that he’s the owner of the game.

“What the APC has done, basically, particularly with the presidential primaries, is to show that, okay, the president has been given 11 million votes.

“If he already has 11 million votes from the party and the challenger, one guy called Stanley Osifo, whom the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives said in Abia State got 1000 plus votes to Tinubu’s 11 million votes. It’s to show that, look, ‘I’m the owner of this game’.

“End of the day, what would the opposition politicians get, whether it’s Dumebi Kachikwu or it is Atiku Abubakar that emerges today, or whoever emerges in any of the other political parties that are trying to show that they are present on the register, already President Tinubu has presented you with a demonstration effect.

“If his party can give him a 11 million votes then the opposition will need to get more than that.

“And yet during the various events that you have seen over the weekend in the last few days, to even count 1,2,3, basic arithmetics, which you start primary school with, was a problem for that particular political party (APC). That strategy was very smart, very clever, some people would say.

“On a general basis, the President has shown that, okay, he has this strategy: If his party has already given him 11 million votes, then, of course, who is.. how many people are even on the INEC voters register?

“But beyond all of that, we also saw that there were protests. There were disagreements arising from the choice of consensus and direct primaries in other places.”