OMOGBOLAHAN L.A. BABAWALE
When a prominent national newspaper, boasting an extensive readership and considerable influence over public discourse, publishes a headline attributing to a former Vice President and presidential candidate the assertion that the Ka’abah has no spiritual purpose in Islam, the matter transcends the ordinary frivolities of partisan exchange. It becomes a question of political judgment, religious sensitivity and the intellectual responsibility expected of those who aspire to the highest office in the land.
The headline published by The Punch on November 3, 2026, has consequently occasioned considerable consternation, particularly against the backdrop of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent spiritual pilgrimage to Makkah and the exceptional privilege reportedly accorded him of entering the sacred precincts of the Holy Ka’abah.
Atiku Abubakar is no political neophyte, neither is he an abecedarian in politics. For a man who has consistently sought the highest for 3 decades and 4 years, it would be jejune of him, if not pueripe or infantile to make such very careless remarks about the sacred mosque. At best, it is a gobbledegook at the apogee. Atiku’s extensive experience in public administration, electoral politics and the intricate mechanics of Nigerian power should ordinarily predispose him towards a more nuanced appreciation of the delicate intersection between religion, public perception and political discourse, but it is what it is — renders its players sometimes as imbecilic intellectually.
Yet, if the reported pronouncement accurately reflects his position, it raises profoundly unsettling questions about the extent to which partisan antagonism has begun to disfigure the sensibilities of those entrusted with the responsibility of providing credible political alternatives.
There is, of course, nothing inherently objectionable about scrutinising the conduct of a sitting President. In a constitutional democracy, public officials are neither sacrosanct nor exempt from accountability. Their decisions, expenditures, public engagements and administrative priorities are legitimate subjects of scrutiny.
However, political criticism and religious irreverence are not interchangeable commodities. The distinction between the two ought not to elude individuals of considerable political experience.
The Ka’abah is not merely an architectural monument or an incidental feature of Saudi Arabian geography. It occupies an unparalleled position in the spiritual consciousness of over 2 billion Muslims worldwide. Its significance is deeply embedded in Islamic worship, devotion and religious identity. Therefore, to reduce the spiritual dimensions of a presidential pilgrimage to the banalities of partisan competition is, at the very least, an unfortunate manifestation of political myopia.
President Tinubu’s entry into the Ka’abah, reportedly facilitated by the Saudi Crown Prince, is an exceptional religious experience. Whether one supports his administration or opposes it with unrelenting conviction, the occasion ought to be approached with the elementary decorum that religious sensitivity demands.
The President’s pilgrimage does not automatically translate into electoral capital, nor does it constitute an endorsement of his administration by the Almighty. Such interpretations would be as intellectually indefensible as the suggestion that a sacred experience should be stripped of its spiritual significance simply because its beneficiary occupies an office coveted by political adversaries.
The issue, therefore, is not whether President Tinubu should be shielded from political criticism. Far from it. The more pertinent question is whether political opposition has become so consumed by its animosity towards the incumbent that it can no longer distinguish between legitimate political contestation and the gratuitous denigration of matters sacred to millions of Nigerians.
There is a particularly troubling dimension to this controversy when viewed through the prism of Nigeria’s religious and ethnic sensitivities. For decades, certain prejudicial narratives have attempted to diminish the religious authenticity of Yoruba Muslims, as though Islamic devotion were the exclusive preserve of a particular geographical constituency. Such assumptions are not only historically uninformed but fundamentally incompatible with the universal character of Islam.
The Almighty is neither a regional chieftain nor the proprietor of a religious franchise administered along ethnic lines. Islam transcends the artificial boundaries of ethnicity, geography, political affiliation and social status.
The spiritual experiences of Yoruba Muslims are no less authentic than those of their Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri or any other Muslim compatriots. Faith is not conferred by political patronage, regional ancestry or the approval of self-appointed custodians of religious orthodoxy.
President Tinubu’s pilgrimage, therefore, should not become an occasion for resurrecting the pernicious insinuation that Muslims from one part of Nigeria are somehow less authentic in their devotion than their counterparts elsewhere.
Indeed, the Almighty’s grace is not subject to the approval of political establishments, nor is divine providence susceptible to the manipulations of electoral strategists. It is, however, the apparent inability of some political actors to rise above the pettiness of partisan rivalry that makes this episode particularly instructive.
One is compelled to wonder whether every occurrence involving President Tinubu must invariably be subjected to an adversarial interpretation. Must every personal achievement, spiritual experience or diplomatic engagement of the incumbent become an existential irritant to his political opponents?
Such a disposition betrays a disturbing impoverishment of political imagination. A credible opposition should be capable of presenting Nigerians with compelling alternatives in economic policy, national security, employment generation, infrastructure development, education and institutional reform. It should possess the intellectual capacity to interrogate government policies with precision, furnish competing solutions and persuade the electorate through the superiority of its ideas. The reduction of a sacred religious experience to partisan caricature contributes little, if anything, to that noble democratic enterprise.
Atiku Abubakar and his political associates are certainly entitled to their ambitions. They are equally entitled to disagree with President Tinubu and to challenge his administration’s policies. Democracy thrives on disagreement, competition and the vigorous exchange of ideas. But opposition politics becomes progressively less edifying when it degenerates into an obsessive repudiation of everything associated with one’s adversary. There is, after all, a distinction between political ambition and political desperation; between principled opposition and reflexive antagonism; between intellectual engagement and the indiscriminate weaponisation of public discourse.
The ability to acknowledge an opponent’s spiritual experience without surrendering one’s political convictions is not an act of capitulation. It is an affirmation of maturity, magnanimity and the capacity to transcend the hnarrow confines of partisan identity. President Tinubu has reportedly offered prayers for himself, his family and the Nigerian nation, seeking divine guidance, mercy and blessings for peace, security, unity and prosperity. These are aspirations that ought to unite Nigerians across political, ethnic and religious divides.
No reasonable person should find such prayers objectionable merely because they emanate from a President whose administration may attract legitimate criticism. The ultimate determination of Nigeria’s political future belongs to the electorate, operating within the constitutional framework of the republic. For the faithful, however, the broader affairs of existence remain subject to the inscrutable wisdom of Almighty Allah. President Tinubu himself has acknowledged that power is ultimately subject to divine providence. This is a reminder not merely for the incumbent, but for every aspirant, political officeholder and self-appointed architect of Nigeria’s political destiny.
Power is transient. Political fortunes fluctuate. Electoral calculations frequently miscarry. The most elaborate political manoeuvres can be rendered inconsequential by circumstances beyond human control. No individual possesses an immutable entitlement to political authority, and no political establishment can claim proprietary rights over the future of the Nigerian nation.
Perhaps this is the most profound lesson of the entire episode — political ambition should never become so consuming that it extinguishes the capacity for humility before matters that transcend earthly power. Atiku Abubakar has occupied some of the highest political offices in Nigeria. His experience ought to be an asset in cultivating political restraint, not an invitation to indulge in rhetoric that risks alienating the sensibilities of millions of religious adherents.
The Nigerian electorate deserves an opposition that is intellectually formidable, politically mature and sufficiently discerning to recognise that not every controversy offers an opportunity for partisan exploitation. The contest for Aso Rock should be conducted with arguments, ideas, policies and demonstrable alternatives—not through the gratuitous trivialisation of sacred religious experiences.
Ultimately, the Ka’abah is not an electoral constituency. Divine providence is not subject to campaign strategy. And the Almighty does not require the endorsement of political antagonists to dispense His grace. Those who remain perpetually agitated by the fortunes of President Tinubu might perhaps benefit from a period of political introspection, spiritual reflection and intellectual recuperation.
Ẹ jẹ́ kí wọ́n lọ sinmi rascality.
Sometimes, the most devastating indictment of political desperation is not an elaborate denunciation, but the quiet reminder that the affairs of the Almighty remain infinitely beyond the reach of earthly political machinations.
Omogbolahan L.A. BABAWALE
Public Affairs Analyst
Life Camp, Abuja
officialczar2@gmail.com