Tinubu’s Makkah Trip: Faith, Politics or Virtue-Signalling?

Of course, the president has the right to go to the holy land for religious exercise, but if such a trip carries a political undertone that is designed to sway a section of the country whose socio-economic and political order is underpinned by Islam, then the journey to Makkah cannot be said to be a genuine spiritual endeavour.

During the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council last month, President Bola Tinubu said he would not be available to attend every campaign tour of the party during this electioneering season.

He told members of the council not to expect him to attend every campaign event ahead of the 2027 general election.

He said his absence from some political functions is necessary to focus on governance and the country’s economic responsibilities, adding that Nigeria needed his attention at the moment. He told council members to excuse him from following them to every campaign event, noting that his administration had bills to pay and international financial obligations to meet.

“You’ve warned me not to allow the rigour of the campaign to distract me from governance; I hear you. I am in full agreement with your decision. Nigeria needs more attention now. So, you will excuse me from going everywhere with you; we have bills to pay. The American creditors cannot wait,” the President said.

Tinubu also said the government needed to attract investors who would commit to long-term investments in Nigeria and contribute to the future of the country’s children.

However, President Tinubu departed the country last week for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, an Islamic spiritual exercise involving a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Makkah. Many Nigerians can not help but wonder why a man who excused himself from electioneering and political campaigns — that would allow him to speak to Nigerians directly and tell them what he has done in the last three and a half years and why they should re-elect — citing the need to focus on government, suddenly finds the time and energy inside his supposed tight schedule to jet off to Saudi Arabia for Umrah that can be performed at any time.

But then the hoopla is not so much about his journey to Makkah as the timing and extenuating circumstances that fuel the trip. The trip to Makkah came just a few days after the APC’s presidential campaign began in Kaduna State. Before the rally in Kaduna, expectations were high, and the party was confident that people would turn out en masse to attend the rally since Kaduna is an APC state and a huge amount of money had gone into making sure the rally was a success, but on the day of the rally, the hope and expectation of the party were dashed because what they expected was not what they saw. The turnout was low, and reports said some attendees hurled invectives and insults at the party, using the occasion to express discontent with the government’s performance and the state of the nation.

The abysmal outing in Kaduna reportedly rankled the presidency, with some sources claiming the presidency accused Kaduna State governor Uba Sani of embarrassing the president by sabotaging the rally. After the Kaduna campaign, the presidency announced Tinubu’s trip to Makkah for Umrah.

Initially, it was hard to tell whether the trip was a genuine spiritual endeavour that coincided with electioneering season or a religious performance clearly designed to get the president back into the good graces of the aggrieved northern voters, knowing how important the north is to his re-election bid and how religion shapes and influences virtually everything in that part of the country.

However, the actions and statements of the president in Makkah soon made it clear what purpose the trip intended to serve. Since arriving in Makkah to perform umrah, every act of worship and religious exercise has been perfectly and meticulously curated and gleefully shared on social media; even spiritual activities that should be done in secret are shared to the public as if the trip is aimed at securing social media validation, which to some extent it is.

On Sunday, the president’s entry into the Holy Ka’abah was announced with aplomb. According to a statement by his media aide, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu, while in Ka’abah, offered prayers of gratitude to Almighty Allah for the privilege of serving as Nigeria’s President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Of course, the president has the right to go to the holy land for religious exercise but if such a trip carries a political undertone that is designed to sway a section of the country whom Islam underpins it socio-economic and political order, then the journey to Makkah cannot be said to be genuine spiritual endeavours with real noble intentions but a mere performance and religious virtue-signalling designed to achieve certain political and electoral goals, and intemperate publicity and fanfare given to the trip and how what should ordinarily be a somewhat discreet spiritual interaction between him and God became political material for public consumption only serve to reinforce the notion that the umrah is for political gains. It does not take much to see through these shenanigans.

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