The senator representing Abia South senatorial district, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu will not win the 2027 election.
He also alleged that politicians defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) are motivated by promises of automatic tickets rather than ideological conviction.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Abaribe stressed that anyone can lose an election, noting that Tinubu did not truly win the 2023 elections.
“Everybody loses an election, and you will see. He will lose in 2027. Because I know what Nigerians are feeling outside. Tinubu never won the election of 2023. And everybody knows it. Those who want to bet, we said, fine.
“He has been declared the winner. No problem. We acknowledge him as president. No problem. But we’re going to meet him in the field. And I will see how he’s going to cobble together that thing that will make him win again.
“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. That will not work anymore. This time, people are ready, and we are ready. The masses outside are even more ready,” he said.
He noted that defecting governors who seem to be loyal to Tinubu “cannot go to their homes and say it”, nor can they go to “Ariaria Market and tell them to vote for Tinubu”.
“They can’t. Why? Because they’re going to be stoned when they go to say such a thing. People are suffering. The suffering is monumental. We’ve never had this before.
“And not just the suffering. The whole economy has collapsed. The security is, I mean, you have not solved it. And where would you now get that vote from?” he asked.
He insisted he would never defect to the APC except in a scenario where no other opposition party exists.
“I have a very simple theory about defection. I think it’s very good for us in the opposition that the defection is happening. If your opponent is making mistakes, you don’t correct him; you leave him.
“All that the APC is doing is that it continues to absorb all the problems it’s going to face. They are right inside them now,” he said.
On the government’s efforts to correct decades of structural decay, Abaribe acknowledged the tough decisions being made but argued that Nigerians are increasingly aware and ready for change.
“Yes, the pain is there. But the gains are nearing, and perhaps we are gradually moving to the gain period,” he said.
Abaribe’s comments come amid a surge of defections from opposition parties to the APC, which he described as politically strategic missteps by the ruling party.
He stressed that APC, despite its seeming strength, has weaknesses that can be exploited as the opposition, including the coalition he belongs to (African Democratic Congress, ADC), remains united and prepared to challenge the APC in 2027.
“This giant of APC has feet of clay. At the election, you are going to target the clay feet. Even with the balloons and the silver, if you get the feet, everything collapses.
“We are part of a coalition. Everybody is going to fight for the ticket. We are not working for Tinubu. There is a consensus among opposition voices, and we are going to be in one place. APC is trying to keep everybody in silos, but we are ready,” he said.