Founding National Secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Prof. Udenta O. Udenta, has advanced that President Bola Tinubu would easily win a second term in office unless certain conditions are put in place.
Asked during an interview how he sees things happening in Nigeria from 2027 and beyond, Udenta lamented the lack of social action against some ills in the country.
According to him, as long as the civic space is shrinking and opposition parties are unable to play their roles in challenging the government to live up to expectations, President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 presidential election without much hassle.
He added that in order to have a robust political stage ahead of the 2027 polls, organized labour should be left free to do its job, the media must be left off the hook, and civic spaces should not shrink.
In the absence of these, Udenta submitted in an interview with The Sun that Tinubu would have a leisure stroll in 2027 for a second term in office.
“But physically with 2027 and beyond, as I said, every government that comes as part of its mandate, especially this particular government to dismantle those guardrails that will protect the people and democratic order. One, the opposition parties are run by crisis, sometimes generated from outside. Labour is pushed to the limit of despair. The media is harassed from pillar to post. Civic spaces are shrinking.
“What we need to do is to start recomposing these spaces and domains. The site of resistance and protest must be reconstituted. Civic spaces must be there. See what happened with the kids who were tried unjustly and illegally. Their story is even gone. They got out of jail, they rode into a vehicle, they entered the villa, they got a pat on the back, got biscuit and Fanta. The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is not held accountable, the Attorney General is not held accountable, and the police officers are not held accountable.
“I didn’t see people populate the Unity Fountain the way they did with the #Bring-Back-Our-Girls. We need to see a consort of opposition parties, civic space agitators and empowered civic space leaders, labour and national unions populating that Unity Fountain every day with placards, saying we are agitating for two or three things. Labour should be left free to do its job. The media must be left off the hook and civic spaces should not shrink.
“If you do that successfully, you may have 2027 that is enchanting, robust and a well-animated a democratic context. If you fail to achieve that, you may find this current president and his team strolling back to power leisurely,” he said.
