A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands no realistic chance of winning re-election in 2027.
Rhodes-Vivour, who was the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State during the 2023 elections, made this claim while speaking on Politics Today on Wednesday.
“I have looked at data, we have polling that is going on now, credible polling—there is no pathway for the president to emerge victorious, that is why we are seeing all these shenanigans,” he said.
He further argued that the president’s electoral support base, particularly in northern Nigeria, has weakened significantly.
“There is no pathway for him. When you consider the North, which gave him 62 per cent of his votes, you can see the political wave currently sweeping through the region,” Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour said.
The Lagos politician also criticised the composition of the current administration, alleging that governance has been concentrated within a small circle.
“You have a president who has built a system that serves only a select group. It’s a ‘city boys’ government’—not even a broadly representative South-West administration, but one dominated by his close allies,” he stated.
Rhodes-Vivour also linked the ongoing crisis within opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress, to what he described as a deliberate strategy by the ruling government.
According to him, the president is attempting to weaken opposition structures ahead of the next election cycle.
“So, the strategy appears to be creating conditions where he stands as the sole viable candidate on the presidential ballot. However, that effort will ultimately fail,” he added.
The move, which INEC said was based on a court order, has been rejected by the party’s leadership.
Earlier this week, prominent opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rotimi Amaechi, led a protest at INEC headquarters in Abuja, calling for electoral accountability.
The demonstration attracted hundreds of supporters, highlighting growing political tensions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
