The senator representing Abia South Senatorial District, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has declared that President Bola Tinubu will not be able to win re-election in the 2027 presidential contest, arguing that prevailing economic hardship and insecurity have hardened public opposition against the current administration.
Abaribe maintained that the President did not genuinely win the 2023 election, insisting that Nigerians merely accepted the declared outcome but have since become more determined to resist a repeat in 2027. Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, the lawmaker dismissed the notion that Tinubu is electorally invincible.
“I do not think so. Everybody loses elections, and you will see when the time comes. He will lose in 2027 because I know what Nigerians are feeling outside,” Abaribe said, stressing that public frustration has reached a critical level.
He went further to challenge the legitimacy of Tinubu’s initial victory. “Tinubu never won the 2023 election, and everybody knows it. But we said fine, he has been declared the winner, no problem. We acknowledge him as president, but we are going to meet him in the field, and I will see how he is going to cobble together what will make him win again.”
According to Abaribe, the conditions that shaped the last election will not be repeated. “It won’t work because this time everybody will be ready. It will no longer be an announcement at 3 a.m. before people wake up in the morning. This time, people are ready, we are ready, and the masses are even more ready.”
The senator argued that worsening economic realities and persistent insecurity have weakened the President’s political standing, questioning where the votes for a second term would come from under such circumstances.
Addressing the ongoing defections from opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abaribe was unequivocal in rejecting any suggestion that he might follow suit. He vowed that he would be the last person to defect, if ever.
“If there is anybody who is going to defect to the APC, I think I should be the very, very last one. By the time I defect, it would mean there are no parties left in Nigeria, including the APC,” he said.
He dismissed the idea that the defections strengthen the ruling party, arguing instead that they merely import internal crises into the APC. According to him, these movements would intensify internal rivalries and leadership struggles rather than consolidate power.
“I have a very simple theory about defections. I think it is very good for us in the opposition that these defections are happening. All the APC is doing is absorbing all the problems it is going to face; they are right inside the party now. Ask yourself, in all the states where there are defections, what is going on there now?”
Abaribe described the ruling party as structurally weak, portraying it as a “giant with feet of clay” that the opposition intends to exploit during the next election cycle.
On the emerging opposition coalition, the senator reaffirmed his participation and said opposition leaders were united in their resolve to unseat the APC in 2027. While the coalition has adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its platform, he rejected claims that the arrangement was designed solely to favour former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He explained that the ADC had yet to release its internal guidelines and frameworks ahead of the elections, insisting that no individual had been imposed on the coalition at this stage.
What you should know
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe believes President Bola Tinubu’s chances of winning re-election in 2027 are slim due to widespread hardship, economic challenges, and insecurity across the country.
He insists that Tinubu did not truly win the 2023 election but was accepted as president following the official declaration. Abaribe says Nigerians are now more alert and determined to prevent a repeat of past electoral outcomes.
He has also ruled out defecting to the APC, arguing that opposition defections weaken the ruling party internally. According to him, the opposition coalition, operating under the ADC, has not been structured to favour any single candidate ahead of 2027.
