REJOINDER: IT WASN’T THE OPPOSITION – THE APC KICKSTARTED 2027 OUT OF FEAR

I Stand With ADC – National Media Directorate

“Those who fear tomorrow often shout the loudest today.”

Once again, Bayo Onanuga, the ever-willing voice of the Tinubu Presidency, has released yet another verbose, self-congratulatory piece that does more to expose the ruling party’s panic than to persuade anyone of its “successes.” His latest statement, laughably titled “Former President Jonathan Is Welcome to the Race. Nigerians Will Remember His Dismal Record in Office”, attempts to rewrite history by claiming that it is the opposition that has “prematurely foisted” the 2027 presidential contest upon the nation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let us be clear from the outset: it was the Tinubu administration and the APC themselves who fired the first shots in the 2027 race – not the opposition. From the moment Bola Tinubu took office, his handlers have been in permanent campaign mode, obsessed not with governance but with succession politics and electioneering propaganda. Even as Nigerians groaned under the weight of an economy spiralling out of control, APC’s machinery shifted focus from fixing the present to manipulating the future. National appointments were made with 2027 political calculations in mind, not competence. Federal interventions were weaponised to favour regions and individuals seen as “strategic” to their reelection project. Billions were spent on self-advertising campaigns long before any opposition party had even begun to discuss alliances.

If any proof is needed of who truly “foisted” the 2027 conversation upon the nation, we need look no further than President Tinubu’s own words. Barely eight months into his presidency – January 2024 – he declared publicly at a Lagos APC stakeholders’ event that “by 2027, they will know who owns Lagos and Nigeria.” Since then, his foot soldiers have turned governance briefings into campaign rallies, holding “renewed hope” town halls in all 36 states with more political speeches than policy content. Even the budget presentations in 2024 and 2025 were padded with campaign slogans, a telltale sign of a regime too insecure to focus on today because it fears tomorrow.

The reason is simple: they know what awaits them in 2027 – a historic electoral defeat. Every poll, every street conversation, every market whisper, and every youth gathering reflects one reality: Nigerians are disillusioned. In June 2023, shortly after Tinubu’s inauguration, a reputable NOI-Gallup poll found that 71% of Nigerians believed the country was “on the wrong track.” By mid-2025, that number had risen to 83%. Inflation, which the government boasts of reducing, remains above 20%, food inflation is still above 30%, and the cost of living has doubled in less than three years. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), over 133 million Nigerians now live in multidimensional poverty, a 17% increase from 2022.

And yet, Bayo Onanuga wants Nigerians to believe that “giant strides” have been made. What strides? That the naira – once ₦460 to a dollar – is now oscillating between ₦1,400 and ₦1,500 on the parallel market? That fuel subsidy removal pushed petrol from ₦185 per litre to over ₦850 without a functional public transport system or corresponding wage increases? That a country with over 33% youth unemployment (and even higher underemployment) has become a “global investment magnet”?

The facts mock the propaganda. Tinubu’s so-called economic reforms have unleashed hardship unseen in decades. Crime and insecurity have worsened. Education is in crisis. Health care is collapsing. More than 5 million Nigerians have emigrated since 2023 in the largest brain drain in modern history. These are not the signs of a country that has “turned the corner” – they are the signs of a government desperately spinning tales to distract from its failures.

Onanuga’s attempt to revive the ghost of Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as a campaign scarecrow is equally disingenuous. Nigerians are not debating the past; they are reacting to the present. The overwhelming frustration in the streets is not nostalgia for 2011 – it is anger at 2025. It is the fuel queues, the skyrocketing rent, the collapsing currency, the empty plates, and the shrinking middle class under Tinubu’s watch that will decide 2027 – not tired APC talking points from a decade ago.

And on the matter of the opposition “ganging up,” what Onanuga calls “desperation” is in fact democracy at work. Across the world, opposition parties form alliances to present credible alternatives – and Nigerians welcome this. What frightens the APC is not the existence of coalitions but the calibre of figures involved: statesmen of integrity, seasoned technocrats, and grassroots movements like the ADC-led coalition who command genuine loyalty, not rented applause. The ruling party’s fear is not misplaced – it is rooted in the dawning realisation that they cannot rely on propaganda to win an election against a united, strategic opposition front.

So, let us end this charade: it is not the opposition that triggered the 2027 conversation – it is the APC’s anxiety that did. They are haunted by their record, terrified of public verdict, and unable to inspire confidence beyond the echo chambers of their controlled media. Their premature campaigning is the behaviour of a government already on the defensive, one that senses that its days of electoral impunity are numbered.

And indeed, they are. 2027 will not be a referendum on Goodluck Jonathan. It will not be a referendum on Jerry Gana. It will not even be a referendum on opposition coalitions. It will be a referendum on Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the devastating legacy of mismanagement, inequality, and despair that his presidency has left behind. And on that day, no propaganda, however eloquent, will save them.

I Stand With ADC
National Media Directorate
September 30, 2025