LAGOS – Experts have expressed shock that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is more concerned about retaining power in 2027 than addressing the hardship Nigerians are facing on a daily basis.
Those who spoke exclusively with Daily Independent berated the ruling party for failing in its responsibilities to the citizens and forgetting the fact that it’s only the electorate that has the power to decide who occupies Aso Rock in 2027.
Recall that the National Chairman of the ruling party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, on Monday, mocked the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Musa Kwankwaso, and his Kwankwasiyya group, saying there won’t be a vacancy in the presidency in 2027.
Ganduje reiterated his claim that the NNPP in Kano was behind his purported suspension as a member of the APC.
The APC national chairman made the claim while receiving hundreds of his supporters and some support groups from Kano at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
Expressing displeasure at the comment of the national chairman and stressing that at the moment Nigerians are grappling with existential and economic challenges, which, according to him, are overwhelming, Kola Ologbondiyan, former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said, “Nigerians are confronted by economic trauma, so much that they’re not interested in politics.
People are preoccupied by survival or they’re preoccupied by existential issues so much that they don’t have time for politics.
People are suffering and nobody is interested in politics. “Talking about 2027 at this moment is completely distracting. It’s a distraction to the government and the people of Nigeria. It’s also very annoying that somebody of Ganduje calibre should be talking about 2027 at this moment.
The economic anguish is heavy on Nigerians. People are waiting for answers to their existential issues, and you’re talking about elections, it’s very sad”.
Comrade Femi Lawson, Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, on his part, said the comment shouldn’t be taken seriously.
He said, “It’s not the first time a politician of Ganduje’s status will be making such a statement.
Remember when Chief Vincent Ogbulafor was the National Chairman of the PDP, he said PDP will rule Nigeria for 60 years.
Nigerians in their decisive way ensured that PDP didn’t rule for more than 16 years.
“Ganduje has the right to be ambitious and to assume that his party will dominate Aso Rock beyond 2027, but the power to decide the landlord of Aso Rock lies in the hands of the Nigerian people. If they want any president to be there for four years, eight years or beyond, it will be within their discretion.
“For me, I don’t take such statements seriously. It’s a way people in Ganduje’s position will use to patronise their leaders like President Bola Tinubu to give an impression that they’re supporting his tenure of office.
Like I said, the real determinants are the Nigerian people, irrespective of how people like Ganduje will think, because in the past, we’ve seen people make such statements and they’ve been proven wrong.”
On the concerns of Nigerians that when politicians make such statements they don’t stop at that but would go extra mile to ensure the votes don’t count, Lawson said, “Nobody can manipulate the will of the people when the people are ready to resist it.
When Ogbulafor made the statement, the PDP was in power but Nigerians moved against it. Irrespective of the power or influence, the APC waves today, when the Nigerian people are ready to say, enough is enough, it’ll definitely happen,” Lawson added.
A PDP chieftain, Chief Kuye Taiwo, said, “APC has no business in turning Nigeria around. The party lacks the capacity to turn Nigeria around. From President Bola Tinubu to the minsters and heads of agencies and parastatals, they don’t have what it takes to turn Nigeria around but are only propagating foul play.
The government told us that dollar is exchanging at N930 but when you get to bureau de change they will tell you that dollar is N1,400. It’s one year and there’s nothing to show.
There’s corruption everywhere, otherwise how did Ganduje with all the corruption cases around him emerge the national chairman of the ruling party. “Our problem in this country is leadership.
We said this at the beginning that there’s nothing to expect from this government and it’s coming to pass.
What is more worrisome is the fact that a mandate of four years has been given and this government hasn’t even served one year and it’s thinking of second term.
You can imagine a government that lacks capacity to turn Nigeria around. All we need to do is to seek divine intervention because the hardship is too much. Nigerians die on a daily basis as a result of hardship”.