In Kaduna There Were No Crowds, Our inter-house Sports in Secondary School Were More Impressive- Itopa

According to a video posted on News Central on Monday October 26, 2026, the Deputy National Welfare Secretary of the ADC, David Itopa, described the turnout at the APC presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna as poor. He said the crowds at his secondary school inter-house sports were more impressive. He spoke on Politics HQ.

The Kaduna event was the first topic of the interview. Dr Taofiq Raimi, of the APC campaign council, said the crowd was real and spilled over several kilometres beyond the stadium. He said he was there himself and called the opposition’s claims propaganda.

Mr Itopa disagreed. He said many people saw the event and judged it for themselves. He also repeated an allegation that was widely shared on social media.

In his words, David Itopa said, “I think it is only fair to Nigerians if we tell ourselves the truth, because a lot of people saw, in fact the whole world saw, the embarrassment that took place in Kaduna.

“In those days when we were in secondary school, the population we usually had in our inter-house sports was even more impressive than the turnout in Kaduna, despite spending over 2 trillion naira on mobilisation. Allegedly, it was everywhere on social media,” he said.

The 2 trillion naira figure was not backed with evidence during the programme. It was presented by Mr Itopa as an allegation. Dr Raimi did not accept the description of the event.

Mark Adebayo, of the Adebayo-Bugaje campaign, also said crowds can be bought. He said the supporters at his candidate’s events were not paid. The host asked whether Dr Raimi’s claim of a mammoth crowd was supported by the event coverage.

Dr Raimi later asked whether News Central had covered the event and whether the stadium was empty. The exchange was one of the more heated moments of the programme.

Watch headline quotes from (17:44 – 18:11).:

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