*PRESIDENT TINUBU IS WORKING HARD TO LOSE THE 2027 ELECTION*
When I say President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working very hard to lose the 2027 election, I am not making a political wish. I am making a political assessment.
Incumbents do not lose elections because the opposition suddenly becomes stronger. They lose because they gradually become disconnected from the people they govern.
Every government seeking another mandate must continually deposit political goodwill into the emotional account of the electorate. Every policy that eases hardship is a deposit. Every life secured is a deposit. Every promise kept is a deposit. Every act of compassion is a deposit.
But what happens when, day after day, the withdrawals become greater than the deposits?
That is the question confronting this administration.
Today, millions of Nigerians are not asking for luxury; they are asking for survival.
The mother who can no longer afford a basket of food is voting already.
The farmer who abandons his farm because of insecurity is voting already.
The graduate whose certificate has become nothing more than framed disappointment is voting already.
The civil servant whose salary dies before the middle of the month is voting already.
The small business owner who shuts his doors because operating costs have become unbearable is voting already.
These votes may not yet have been cast into ballot boxes, but they are already being cast in the hearts of the people.
Governments seldom appreciate that elections begin long before INEC announces a timetable.
Every painful experience creates another silent voter.
Every broken promise recruits another silent opposition member.
Every display of indifference manufactures another political opponent.
That is why I insist that President Tinubu is becoming the chief campaign director against his own re-election.
No opposition party can campaign against hunger more effectively than hunger itself.
No political speech can mobilize voters more effectively than empty stomachs.
No coalition can recruit supporters faster than hopelessness.
No campaign slogan can drown out the cries of families struggling simply to survive.
Leadership is not demonstrated by how many governors defect into your party.
Leadership is demonstrated by how many citizens believe tomorrow will be better because you are in charge.
History has never been kind to governments that mistake political endorsements for popular acceptance.
Political elites may negotiate.
Governors may defect.
Power brokers may realign.
But ordinary Nigerians negotiate only with their lived reality.
And lived reality is stubborn.
When a father cannot feed his family, he is not thinking about political strategy.
When a young graduate cannot find work, he is not impressed by political calculations.
When communities continue to bury victims of insecurity, they are not comforted by official explanations.
At that point, politics ceases to be about party structures. It becomes a referendum on leadership.
That is why I have repeatedly said that 2027 may not be a contest between APC and the opposition.
It may become a contest between Nigerians’ lived experiences and the government asking for another mandate.
Power has a way of creating illusions.
It can make applause sound like acceptance.
It can make defections look like popularity.
It can make carefully managed crowds appear to represent the national mood.
But elections have a cruel habit of separating manufactured optics from genuine public sentiment.
The ballot box has no respect for propaganda.
It has no regard for praise singers.
It cannot be bullied by sycophants.
It simply reflects what ordinary people have quietly concluded over time.
If this administration truly desires another four years, it must stop counting political defections and start counting the burdens ordinary Nigerians carry every day.
Because elections are not won by assembling politicians. They are won by convincing citizens that their lives are improving.
As things stand today, I see a government making too many political calculations and too few human calculations.
And that is why I say, without malice and without hesitation:
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working very hard to lose the 2027 election.
Anonymous
