Why It Will Be Extremely Difficult, Impossible, To Defeat President Tinubu In 2027.
Wednesday (Afor) 17-12-2025.
There are indicators that are fundamentally essential in forecasting future elections in any constitutional democracy. One of them is political loyalty and mobility among critical players.
Though it could be argued that economic indices, security and welfare of the citizens stand prominently as the lead to people’s choices in elections, critical Stakeholders will always determine where the pendulum swings.
Senator Enyinnah Abaribe is a very experienced and, no doubt, versatile Politician. Having had an uncommon privilege of spending close to twenty consecutive years in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2007-2027, no pundit would dismiss him with a wave of the hand. This is moreso when it is considered that he was once a Deputy Governor of Abia State, a sub-national Government.
Nonetheless, his comments on Channels Television’s Politics Today in the night of Monday (Eke) 15th December, 2025, moderated by Seun Okinbalayo, failed to portray him as the very scrupulous politician many had thought or expected he would be.
At his age and stage, being discreet in his choice of words should have been an assumption any crtically-minded person could successfully make, especially when he speaks on a public medium like the Television.
For the Ranking Senator to have openly boasted that President Tinubu would be voted out in 2027 did not smack of scruples and political sagacity. It was, indeed, not sagacious and innocuous.
The Senator propagated that President Tinubu would not be reelected in 2027 because of his perception of economic difficulties being encountered by the common Nigerians but he refused to state that reforms that will end up improving the state of economy of any country and ameliorate the living standard of her citizens will create initial difficulties. No body eats omelette without first breaking eggs.
The reforms which include; removal of fuel subsidy, foreign exchange market unification, fiscal discipline, and tax/revenue policy overhaul, have, as would be expected, given rise to short term discomfort. But hopefully, at the long run, Nigerians will certainly be happy and thank President Tinubu for depicting strong political will. Hard decisions are best taken during tough times, so that people experience the hard times and come out of them once and for all.
Democracy is all about choice. If, as it is evident, State Governors, National Assembly Members, and innumerable critical political grandmasters decide to leave their former Political Parties and join the President’s Political Party, APC, it is just a clear manifestation of their belief and choice.
Available records have it that Distinguished Senator Enyinnah Harcourt Abaribe had ostensibly started his political career in Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1998, and luckily rose to be Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s Deputy Governor in 1999. By 2001/02 when there was no love lost between him and his Boss, he decamped from PDP to All Nigeria Peoples Party, on which platform he fruitlessly contested governorship of Abia State in 2003 against his former Boss.
He later rejoined PDP and used it to successfully contest Abia-South Senatorial seat in 2007. He used the PDP to contest for election into the Senate in 2011, 2015, 2019 and by 2023 when he could not secure the opportunity of using PDP to go to the Upper Chambers for the fifth consecutive time, that is 20 uninterrupted years in the Senate, he once again defected from PDP to All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
So, the highly revered Distinguished Senator who, obviously, has evidently shown clear signs of diminishing returns, taking into consideration that his approximately twenty years in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has not, in any way, made any quantifiable impact on Abia-South Senatorial District and her peoples, has no moral justification to raise any grouse against Politicians defecting to Parties of their choice. If there is anything special about the defection(s), it is that those defecting are either taking after his example or, at least, doing what he has a mastery of and has lived by.
On Distinguished Senator Abaribe’s reverie that President Tinubu will be defeated in 2027, it is certain that the Senator is being either impractical in his assessment of contemporary Nigerian political realities or is just speaking to derive ecstasy from mere illusion.
Did he forget that President Tinubu is one of the most iconic socio-political bridges in this country, with the largest network of friendships and contacts? Would he be fair to himself to feign ignorance of the facts that President Tinubu is both an experienced and patriotic nationalist, and being exceptionally pragmatic? If he is asked to name the smartest Politician in today’s Nigeria and if he would be sincere to himself, would he hesitate to name President Tinubu?
The truth about 2027 election, by God’s grace, could be found in what a former Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia-North in the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has already articulated and that is that 2027 Presidential Election is between President Tinubu and the President himself.
Interestingly, the economy, courtesy of the President’s principled reforms, is beginning to show signs of slow but systematic recovery. Everyone knows that things were at sixes and sevens before the emergence of President Tinubu. An economy that suffered serious neglect in the last Administration, coupled with insecurity that was allowed to fester almost unabated, will take some time to recover fully.
On a final note, Distinguished Senator Enyinnah Harcourt Abaribe does not need to be reminded that the Igbo have suffered a lot from negative perceptions held against them by some sections of the Nigerian State. An Igbo, as prominently positioned as he is, is expected to be circumspect in his choice of words while talking on issues of national concern, as not to escalate such unhealthy perceptions.
By God’s grace and collective mandate of the Nigerian electorate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, would be sworn-in for the second time as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Saturday (Afor) 29th May, 2027.
May God continue to bless Nigeria, and instill in her citizens the tenets of patriotism and optimism.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters.
