2027: Opposition Exploits Tinubu’s Economic Pains to Woo Voters

•Tinubu Made Life Expensive, I’ll Make It Affordable — Atiku

•SDP’s Adebayo Pledges N200/Litre Petrol, Gas, Jet A1

•Datti Rejects Obi, Others as Alternatives to Tinubu

With the 2027 presidential election approaching, opposition politicians are increasingly turning the economic difficulties Nigerians face into campaign ammunition, attacking President Bola Tinubu’s reforms while offering voters alternative promises and policies.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Sunday accused the Tinubu administration of making life more expensive and urged Nigerians to reject the President at the polls.

Atiku’s position came as the Social Democratic Party, SDP, presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, promised to slash the prices of petrol, cooking gas and aviation fuel, Jet A1, to N200 per litre within 12 months if elected.

But in a striking twist, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, former Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, said none of the politicians challenging Tinubu in 2027, including his former running mate, Peter Obi, could improve the country.

The competing positions underline the increasingly fierce battle over the economy and the question of who can offer Nigerians a better alternative ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Tinubu inherited an economy facing major fiscal and structural problems and moved quickly to implement reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange regime.

The reforms were designed to reduce government spending, attract investment, improve revenue and create a more sustainable economic framework. But their immediate effect on households and businesses has been severe.

The removal of the petrol subsidy pushed up fuel prices and triggered increases in transportation costs. The higher cost of moving goods contributed to rising food prices, while businesses faced increased expenses for energy, logistics and imported inputs.

The naira’s depreciation also raised the cost of imported goods and raw materials, adding further pressure on households already struggling with reduced purchasing power.

For many Nigerians, the result has been a sharp increase in the cost of basic necessities, even as wages and business revenues have struggled to keep pace.

The Tinubu administration, however, has maintained that the reforms were necessary to rescue the economy from a difficult fiscal position and end what it described as costly distortions.

The President and his economic team have repeatedly argued that the reforms are beginning to produce stronger macroeconomic fundamentals, including improved government revenue, increased investment interest and greater stability in the foreign exchange market.

The administration has also introduced measures aimed at cushioning the impact of the reforms, while insisting that reversing them would jeopardise the progress already made.

But the opposition has seized on the hardship accompanying the reforms, making the cost of living a central feature of its campaign against the government.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said Nigerians were already experiencing the consequences of Tinubu’s economic policies in their daily lives.

“Nigerians have now seen what Tinubu’s economics means in their daily lives: higher fuel prices, higher food prices, higher transport costs, weaker businesses and emptier pockets,” he said.

The former Vice President argued that Nigerians did not need another appeal for patience but policies capable of delivering immediate relief.

He promised that an ADC government would support domestic production, refine crude oil locally, create Nigerian jobs and reduce the cost of living.

“The choice before Nigeria is therefore clear: continue with an economy that takes more from the people, or build one that puts money back in their pockets,” Atiku said.

He summed up his campaign pitch with a direct attack on the incumbent, declaring: “Tinubu made life expensive, Atiku will make life affordable again.”

Adebayo has also placed fuel prices at the centre of his economic campaign.

Speaking in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, he said an SDP government would place petrol, cooking gas and Jet A1 under a pricing regime that would prevent the products from selling above N200 per litre.

“SDP will pick cooking gas, petrol and Jet A1; those three, we will put them under a regime where the price does not go past N200,” he said.

The SDP candidate proposed reviving existing refineries and encouraging modular refineries to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products.

He also proposed reserving 450,000 barrels of crude oil for domestic consumption, refining the crude locally and using revenue from other petroleum derivatives to support the proposed pricing arrangement.

Beyond fuel, Adebayo promised cheaper transportation, housing, education and healthcare.

He proposed expanded public transport and rail services, with employers contributing six per cent of workers’ salaries towards transportation. He also wants housing costs limited to seven per cent of workers’ salaries, alongside free education and healthcare.

While Atiku and Adebayo are seeking to turn economic hardship into a case for changing the government, Datti Baba-Ahmed has questioned the capacity of the opposition to provide a better alternative.

Speaking on the Mic On Podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, Baba-Ahmed advised Tinubu to prepare to leave office but warned him against handing power to any of the politicians currently challenging him.

“I will simply advise uncle (Tinubu) to please prepare to hand over and move away, but not to the people contesting against him because none of them will improve Nigeria,” he said.

Asked whether his assessment included Peter Obi, his former running mate on the Labour Party ticket in 2023, Baba-Ahmed replied: “Including Peter Obi, I’m sorry to say.”

He argued that many of those seeking to replace Tinubu had previously been part of the ruling political establishment. He specifically cited Obi’s membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, which controlled the Federal Government for 16 years.

Baba-Ahmed maintained that his criticism was not based simply on party affiliation. He said he had never belonged to a ruling party, explaining that he was a member of the Congress for Progressive Change when it remained in opposition.

He also said he resigned from the All Progressives Congress after the party emerged from the merger that brought the CPC and other opposition groups together and subsequently took power.

Baba-Ahmed and Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the Labour Party platform and finished third behind Tinubu and Atiku.

The former vice-presidential candidate later left the Labour Party for the Peoples Redemption Party, while Obi subsequently joined the ADC, which has adopted him as its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

The contrasting positions have added another dimension to the emerging presidential contest.

For Atiku and Adebayo, the hardship associated with Tinubu’s reforms offers an opportunity to convince Nigerians that a change of government would bring relief.

For the administration, the task is to demonstrate that the painful reforms are producing benefits capable of outweighing the immediate hardship.

And for politicians such as Baba-Ahmed, the argument goes beyond the failures or successes of Tinubu’s government to whether the opposition itself represents a credible break from the political order Nigerians have experienced.

With the cost of living, fuel prices, jobs and purchasing power likely to remain major election issues, the 2027 contest is already shaping up as a battle over both Tinubu’s economic record and the opposition’s ability to present a convincing alternative.