Tinubu’s endorsement for re-election, a sham – Opposition
Major opposition parties in the country have warned President Bola Tinubu not to get carried away by the recent vote of confidence he received from governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress and other political bigwigs at the recent National Executive Committee meeting of the party.
In separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH, the opposition parties argued that such an endorsement would not sway the votes of angry Nigerians who are still reeling from the pains of his economic reforms in his favour in the 2027 election.
Members of the APC NEC had last week passed a vote of confidence on the President.
Former national chairman of the party, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, seconded the motion for Tinubu’s second term endorsement.
The former governor of Edo State hinged his conviction on the economic reforms introduced by the President, which he said had started yielding fruits.
Reacting to the endorsement, the Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, described the APC NEC as a ‘sham’ arrangement involving politicians with no serious value.
According to him, the APC has been heavily balkanised, which is further reflected in the manner some critical stakeholders shunned the session.
He said, “There is no need to waste one’s time responding to any believer in the APC as presently constituted, not to talk of their NEC that was a sham. How many followers of APC or critical stakeholders were in attendance to start with? Secondly, is there any party in this country today that is more crisis-ridden than the APC?
“Only recently, we have had an immediate past governor, a very important member of the 38 founders of the APC, saying the party is running a zero-man show. That was how El-Rufai described the APC. Go across the states and see how the critical stakeholders who earlier believed in this part have lost hope from Buhari’s atrocious eight years and the demonic two years of Tinubu.
“The cumulative 10 years that Nigerians have received in a very harsh way will not allow them to contemplate going the way of APC in 2027. In the first place, they were not elected. We all know they got the power in 2023 at all costs.”
Ibrahim argued that virtually every Nigerian knew that if the country genuinely runs a one-man, one-vote system, none of the current leaders in government would come close to the corridors of power.
According to him, the present administration’s approaches and understanding of politics were heavily flawed.
“So, nobody is losing any sleep. We know that they are glorifying and goading themselves. They know that they have lost sympathy with Nigerians and are also aware that the election cannot return them to power.
“All this gimmick, mischief, and the desperate fraud they are causing by inflicting disharmony in the opposition camps will not take them anywhere. It is clear that they are the ones responsible for the same crisis opposition parties are going through.
“We will put up a fight, challenge them for 2027 and, by the grace of God, rescue this country once again from the clutches of oppression, ineptitude and cluelessness,” he noted.
The leadership of the Labour Party also shared the same sentiment.
In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, noted that it was too early for any party to conclude it would win the 2027 presidential poll.
According to him, it would be unfair for the president to begin to drum support for his re-election when the Independent National Electoral Commission has not released the modalities for the poll.
He said, “As you are aware, they only have one candidate. The president will seek re-election and so they have no choice but to begin to echo his chances. For we, the opposition party, we do not have the luxury. So, we would rather wait for INEC to come up with their proposals, after which we can begin to talk about 2027.
“However, it is obvious that the APC NEC has no option than to endorse the only candidate. They are just jumping the gun because this government has not even got two years in government. So, they cannot be talking about 2027 when they have not been able to discharge the 2023 mandate.
“It shows the party is all about grabbing power and not making use of it to improve the condition of Nigerians. You don’t need anybody to tell you that the Nigerians are still suffering and things are getting worse. All they know how to do is to grab power and run away, which has always been their target, which was what they did in 2023.”
Ifo said INEC should caution excesses of political parties ahead of the generation election.
However, the APC Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Duru, said the opposition had no say on whether the President should be returned to office or not.
Duru stated that Tinubu’s fate in 2027 lied in the hands of the voters, who will assess him based on his scorecard and not in the hands of a few disillusioned political elements.
“It is our scorecard that we will present to the people of Nigeria on the basis on which we will be judged.
“No one person, including myself, can claim that he will influence electoral behaviour and attitude of Nigerians. So, at the end of the day, we take our philosophy, manifesto and, more importantly, our achievement for the people of Nigeria to judge us.”
