Get Guardian on GoogleThe Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s claim that Nigeria’s economy has emerged from the “dark tunnel”.
It insisted that millions of Nigerians remain trapped in poverty amid worsening economic hardship.
The organisation, in a statement issued Monday by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Nnanna Ihediwa, described the President’s assessment of the economy as disconnected from the realities confronting citizens.
Tinubu had reportedly made the remarks while in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where he also acknowledged that power comes from Almighty Allah, who can give and take it from whomever He wills.
However, the MDPCO argued that the President’s optimism about the economy was contradicted by persistent poverty, rising living costs, business closures, unemployment and worsening food insecurity.
It claimed that more than 140 million Nigerians, representing about 63 per cent of the population, were living in abject poverty, while over 60 million faced acute food insecurity.
The organisation also alleged that hundreds of businesses were shutting down daily under the weight of the administration’s economic policies and taxation, leaving many Nigerians struggling to meet their basic needs.
It further expressed concern over the state of insecurity across the country, arguing that attacks and other security challenges had restricted citizens’ movements, disrupted farming and commercial activities, and compounded the nation’s economic difficulties.
On the cost of living, the group said petrol prices ranging between N1,500 and N2,000 per litre in parts of the country had further weakened household purchasing power and increased the cost of doing business.
The organisation also cited Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit, which it estimated at $2.3 trillion, arguing that the scale of the challenge required sustained investment and a clear development strategy.
It questioned the administration’s borrowing policy, alleging that the growing debt burden was mortgaging the country’s future without sufficient evidence of corresponding investments in productive projects and programmes.
The MDPCO put Nigeria’s debt accumulated under Tinubu at N166.7 trillion and challenged the administration to demonstrate how the borrowings would translate into measurable improvements in citizens’ welfare and economic productivity.
The group said Nigerians had expected the President to use his visit to the Holy Land for reflection and genuine contrition, particularly in view of the hardship it said his administration’s policies had imposed on the population.
According to the organisation, Tinubu’s assertion that political power ultimately rests with Almighty Allah has reinforced Nigerians’ prayers for a change in leadership.
It urged the President, in what it described as the overriding interest of the country, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race and support the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde.
The organisation said Makinde’s proposed RESET NIGERIA agenda offered an alternative pathway anchored on economic opportunities, affordable living, effective security, quality education, accountable governance and national unity.
It expressed confidence that Nigerians would embrace the APM candidate as a credible alternative to the Tinubu administration in the next presidential election.
