Enyinnaya Abaribe, senator representing Abia south senatorial district, says President Bola Tinubu will be unable to secure re-election in the 2027 presidential contest.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, the senator dismissed claims that Tinubu has never lost an election.
Abaribe argued that widespread hardship across the country has strengthened public resolve to prevent Tinubu’s return after 2027.
“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.
He also challenged the legitimacy of Tinubu’s 2023 victory, insisting the president did not win the election.
“Tinubu never won the 2023 election, and everybody knows it. But we said fine, he has been declared the winner, no problem,” he said.
Abaribe said while Tinubu is recognised as president, the opposition intends to confront him electorally.
“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,” he said.
The senator said the circumstances surrounding the next election would differ significantly from 2023.
“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,” Abaribe said.
He added, “This time, people are ready, we are ready, and the masses are even more ready.”
Abaribe said Tinubu has presided over an economic collapse and has failed to address insecurity, questioning where electoral support would come from in 2027.
The senator also reacted to recent defections of opposition figures to the All Progressives Congress.
He also vowed never to defect to the ruling party, saying he would be the last person to do so.
“If there is anybody who is going to defect to the APC, I think I should be the very, very last one,” he said.
“By the time I defect, it would mean there are no parties left in Nigeria, including the APC.”
He argued that the defections would weaken rather than strengthen the APC by importing internal crises into the party.
“I have a very simple theory about defections. I think it is very good for us in the opposition that these defections are happening,” he said.
“All the APC is doing is absorbing all the problems it is going to face; they are right inside the party now.”
The Abia senator also urged observers to assess the impact of defections at state levels.
“Ask yourself, in all the states where there are defections, what is going on there now?” he added.