A chieftain of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and former presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has warned that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may face massive rejection at the polls in 2027 if current economic and security challenges remained unresolved.
Speaking on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television current affairs programme on Wednesday night, Adebayo reacted to suggestions that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South could hand Tinubu an easier path to victory.
He dismissed such assumptions, arguing that Nigerians’ voting decisions will be shaped more by lived experiences under the present administration than by zoning arrangements.
“Who is going to vote for President Tinubu in 2027? With all this suffering, with all these fake promises?” Adebayo asked.
“President Tinubu himself said, ‘Don’t vote for me in 2027 if I don’t give you electricity.’ Has he given it? He said, ‘I know the job, let me do what I want to do. If you don’t like me at the end of four years, don’t vote for me.’ So, I don’t think if things remain as they are, Tinubu in his good conscience should be surprised if he is massively voted out. Nigerians have suffered enough. His policies are not working.”
Adebayo further dismissed the notion that political power must always swing between the APC and PDP, insisting that Nigerians were yearning for credible alternatives.
“What we know is that APC and PDP are like twins; they are the same company now, they work together,” he said.
“Nigerians want alternative politics. We are looking for a new direction. There’s nothing new about PDP; definitely, there’s nothing new about APC. They’ve done ‘change,’ they’ve done ‘next level,’ and now we’re suffering.”
However, Adebayo stressed that Tinubu could still regain political competitiveness if his administration managed to turn around the economy and improve living conditions before the 2027 elections.
“If by 2027 something changes in terms of macroeconomics, security, employment, and poverty, then President Tinubu is competitive,” he noted.
“But if things continue the way they are now, I don’t think for the good of the country, and even for the good of the President himself, he should just go home and thank God that he was president for four years.”
