The 2027 presidential contest moved into a new phase following the official opening of campaigns on Wednesday. However, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, chose markedly different ways to make their presence felt on the first day of the race. While Tinubu spent the day combining the responsibilities of an incumbent president with the political demands of a re-election campaign, Atiku went directly to Nigerians through a Facebook Live session, using the platform to attack one of the defining economic policies of the Tinubu administration. Obi, meanwhile, opened his campaign with a message centred on competence, character, accountability and the need for voters to scrutinise the records and policy proposals of those seeking to govern the country. The contrasting approaches came as the presidential campaign period officially commenced on August 19, 2026, ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election. The candidates had also signed the National Peace Accord in Abuja the previous day, pledging to pursue peaceful and issue based campaigns. For Tinubu, the first day of the campaign did not begin with a conventional presidential rally or an elaborate campaign launch. Instead, he was at the State House in Abuja presiding over a Federal Executive Council meeting, his first since June 29, 2026. The coincidence was politically significant. As his challengers began making their cases to voters, Tinubu continued to project the image of a sitting president focused on governance. The FEC meeting took a number of decisions on the economy, education, infrastructure and other areas of national administration. Among the decisions announced after the meeting was Tinubu’s directive for liquid funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to be channelled into the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, alongside efforts involving unclaimed dividends and dormant funds to strengthen student financing. The development provided Tinubu’s camp with another opportunity to highlight the administration’s reform and “development” records as the president seeks a second term. Opponents have however criticised these reforms. Tinubu’s approach also underlined one of the central arguments likely to dominate his re-election campaign. And that is whether Nigerians should judge his administration by the immediate hardship associated with his reforms or by the longer term economic and institutional changes his government says those reforms are designed to achieve. The removal of petrol subsidy and the naira reforms remain particularly contentious. While the government has defended them as necessary measures, they have also been associated with a sharp increase in the cost of living and intense public criticism. It is expected that economic hardship and insecurity are expected to be among the major issues shaping the election. For Atiku, Day One offered an opportunity to go directly after that economic record. The ADC presidential candidate used a Facebook Live session on Wednesday to promise that he would restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027. Atiku’s position amounts to a direct challenge to one of the signature decisions of the Tinubu administration. He questioned what had happened to the savings generated from the removal of the subsidy, arguing that Nigerians should have seen clearer benefits from the policy through improved public services. His message effectively placed the subsidy question at the centre of his opening campaign pitch, giving voters a sharply different proposition from the policy direction pursued by Tinubu. Atiku also used the campaign opening to demand greater accountability over government finances. In a statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, he questioned approximately N30 trillion in Federation revenues, deductions, savings and transfers which he said required transparent reconciliation. The former vice president’s campaign entered Day One with an unmistakable opposition message to challenge the economic record of the incumbent. He also questioned how public resources are being managed and offered Nigerians a different direction on fuel pricing. His decision to use Facebook Live was also significant in the context of modern Nigerian electioneering. It allowed him to address voters without waiting for a traditional rally or large political gathering. For Obi, however, the opening day was less about unveiling a dramatic policy reversal and more about defining the terms on which he wants Nigerians to judge the presidential contest. His media office presented him as the “Candidate of Conscience”, urging Nigerians to use the 150 day campaign period to scrutinise the records, character and policy proposals of all presidential candidates. The NDC presidential candidate and the former Anambra gove
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