The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised a recent report by The Economist on President Bola Tinubu’s chances in the 2027 presidential election, describing it as “poor journalism.”
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made the remarks in an interview with Trust TV while reacting to the publication’s report that Tinubu could retain the presidency in 2027 despite public concerns over insecurity and economic hardship.
Abdullahi said it was inappropriate to elevate the report into an electoral projection simply because it was published by The Economist.
“I’m embarrassed the way we are elevating a mere story to the level of an electoral projection,” he said, describing the reasoning as an appeal to authority.
He added, “I read that story, and I think even as a piece of journalism it’s poor journalism. The fact that it’s published by The Economist does not excuse the fact that it is poor journalism.”
According to the ADC spokesperson, the report relied on limited interviews conducted in Borno State, which he argued could not reasonably support conclusions about the entire country.
“How do I mean? When you sit in one place in Borno, and probably Borno town, just the town, then you spoke to a couple of people and used that to extrapolate for the entire country, that’s not journalism,” Abdullahi said.
Abdullahi, a former newspaper editor, said he would have rejected such a report if it had been submitted to him while he was working at ThisDay newspaper.
“That’s not the way we do this work. And like I said on a different TV platform yesterday, if a reporter brought that to me as an editor, when I was at ThisDay newspaper, I would throw it back at him and say it’s lazy reporting,” he said.
Clarifying that his criticism was directed at the specific report rather than the publication itself, Abdullahi said, “I’m saying that that story is poor journalism, and it cannot be excused just because it was published by The Economist.”
His comments come amid heightened political activities and scrutiny of reports and projections ahead of the 2027 presidential election.