The Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s newly constituted 2027 Presidential Campaign Council as a doomed political project containing politically weakened figures.
This was just as opposition party said the composition of the council was a reflection of an alleged declining popularity of the Tinubu administration and inability to attract credible politicians capable of securing broad public support ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
APM National Publicity Secretary, Abubakar Yusuf, made the position known in a statement on Saturday. He particularly criticised the appointment of former Zamfara State Governor, Abdul-Aziz Yari, as Director-General of the campaign council.
Yusuf alleged that Yari’s administration was characterised by worsening insecurity and poor living conditions in Zamfara State, arguing that his appointment did not strengthen Tinubu’s electoral prospects.
“If after three and half years in power, President Tinubu could not garner the capacity to assemble a credible team, then it is clear that indeed he has no business being in charge of a nation as complex and demanding as Nigeria,” Yusuf said.
The APM also described members of the campaign council as “known political sycophants, inconsistent characters and ideology turncoats”, alleging that some had recently suffered political rejection while others were seeking protection amid corruption allegations.
According to the opposition party, the Tinubu campaign would struggle to convince Nigerians to support the administration in 2027 because of what it described as failures in security, economic management and infrastructure development.
The party alleged that about 628,000 Nigerians had been killed and more than 2.2 million people, including children, abducted since Tinubu assumed office, while also claiming that more than 140 million Nigerians had been pushed below the poverty line.
It further alleged that unemployment had risen to 33 per cent and that critical national infrastructure had deteriorated under the administration.
“How can any well-meaning Nigerian campaign for an administration that has ruined our economy with ill-advised and ill-implemented anti-people policies resulting in the crippling of our national productive sectors?” the party asked.
The APM said the outcome of the recent Osun State governorship election should serve as an early warning to the ruling party, claiming that the election demonstrated the limits of Tinubu’s political influence.
It consequently declared that the mission of the newly constituted campaign council was “dead on arrival”.
The opposition party, however, said Nigerians had an alternative in its presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, whom it described as capable of providing a new direction for the country.
According to the APM, Makinde’s proposed administration would prioritise transparency, human development, security, industrialisation, employment generation, infrastructure and prudent management of public resources.
“Our candidate is armed with a blueprint for a new and transparent approach to governance that puts Nigerians first, prioritizing inclusive human development and wellbeing through people-oriented policies and prudent management of resources,” Yusuf said.
The party urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by the composition of Tinubu’s campaign council but to support what it described as a “new beginning” under a proposed Makinde/Daura presidency.
The latest attack on the Tinubu campaign council comes amid the APM’s earlier demand for an investigation into the Federal Government’s account of funds generated from the removal of petroleum subsidy.
The party had petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Assembly over what it described as discrepancies in the government’s reported subsidy savings.
The APM questioned the Federal Government’s disclosure that N15.8 trillion had been realised from subsidy removal, arguing that the figure did not tally with an earlier government estimate of about $20 billion, which it said was equivalent to approximately N26.9 trillion at the time.
The party said the difference, which it put at more than N11 trillion, required an independent investigation, particularly as additional savings may have accrued between November 2024 and 2026.
It demanded a detailed account of how the subsidy savings were generated, distributed and spent, including the amounts allocated to individual states and local governments, dates of disbursement and the projects or programmes funded with the money.
The APM also questioned the government’s explanation that N5.4 trillion of the reported N15.8 trillion went to the Federal Government, while N10.4 trillion was shared among states and local governments.
It further challenged the claim that N9.39 trillion from incremental resources generated through subsidy savings, independent revenue and borrowing was used to pay workers’ salaries and finance students’ loans.
The opposition party argued that the disputed funds, if properly accounted for, could have financed major infrastructure projects, including a new refinery and about 1,000 kilometres of railway.
It therefore urged the EFCC and National Assembly to scrutinise the figures and establish the actual amount generated from subsidy removal, how much was distributed across the three tiers of government and how the funds were ultimately utilised.
The party maintained that the controversy was not merely political, insisting that subsidy savings constituted public funds and should be subjected to full accountability and transparency.
The APM also called on Nigerians to remain vigilant ahead of the 2027 elections, saying the controversy over the management of public resources reinforced the need for greater scrutiny of the government’s economic and fiscal policies.
