Prominent Nigerian social media activist VeryDarkMan has launched a scathing public on President Bola Tinubu, accusing the nation’s leader of orchestrating efforts to manipulate the ongoing Osun State governorship election. In a video posted to his Instagram account and directed squarely at the presidential handle, the outspoken critic condemned what he characterized as an unprecedented deployment of All Progressives Congress governors and senators to the southwestern state, asserting that their presence signals a predetermined attempt to subvert the democratic process. The accusation comes amid heightened scrutiny of electoral practices across Nigeria, where questions of credibility and fairness have long plagued the nation’s political landscape.
VeryDarkMan’s criticism centers on the unusual convergence of high-ranking APC officials from various parts of the country in Osun State during the election period. According to the activist, this coordinated movement of political heavyweights represents nothing less than political bullying designed to intimidate voters and election officials alike. He warned the president directly that the oppressive political structures being deployed could eventually create problems even for Tinubu’s own family, suggesting that such tactics elish dangerous precedents that could boomerang against their architects. The activist demanded that the president allow Osun residents to make their choice freely, without the heavy hand of party machinery tilting the scales.
While VeryDarkMan stopped short of offering a full-throated endorsement of incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, he drew comparisons to Alex Otti’s electoral success, implying that genuinely popular leaders should not require overwhelming party intervention to secure victory. His comments reflected a broader skepticism about the necessity of such robust party machinery in a state where the sitting governor claims to have performed well. Nevertheless, the activist insisted his primary concern was procedural fairness rather than partisan preference, framing his intervention as a defense of democratic principles rather than support for any particular candidate. This nuanced position highlights the complex relationship many Nigerian activists maintain with electoral politics, where dissatisfaction with process often transcends party loyalty.
The presence of multiple APC governors and senators in Osun State has indeed raised eyebrows among observers of Nigerian politics, with many questioning whether such high-level involvement in a state-level election reflects legitimate party support or soing more insidious. Election monitoring has become increasingly contentious in Nigeria, where accusations of rigging, voter intimidation, and result manipulation have marred numerous electoral exercises across different administrations and parties. VeryDarkMan’s public challenge to the president taps into widespread public cynicism about the integrity of Nigerian elections, a sentiment that has only deepened as citizens watch political elites deploy state resources and party structures to maintain power.
President Tinubu, who himself has faced questions about the legitimacy of his own electoral victory in the 2023 presidential election, now finds himself accused of perpetuating the very systems that critics claim brought him to power. The irony has not been lost on political commentators, who note that the APC leader’s democratic credentials remain contested by significant segments of the Nigerian population. VeryDarkMan’s direct tagging of the presidential handle and his public warning about the consequences of political oppression represent a bold confrontation that underscores the growing willingness of social media activists to challenge authority figures without the traditional deference that once characterized Nigerian political discourse. Whether such confrontations will yield meaningful reform or simply generate social media engagement remains an open question.
As voting continues in Osun State, the controversy surrounding the election’s credibility threatens to overshadow the actual contest between candidates. Regardless of who ultimately emerges victorious, VeryDarkMan’s intervention ensures that questions about the process will persist, potentially delegitimizing the results before they are even announced. For Nigerian democracy, already fragile and frequently contested, the spectacle of activists publicly accusing a sitting president of electoral manipulation represents both a healthy exercise of free speech and a worrying indication of how little trust exists between citizens and their elected leaders. How President Tinubu responds to these accusations, whether through silence, denial, or engagement, may well shape public perception of his administration’s commitment to democratic principles in the months and years ahead.
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