Hunger Will Be on the Ballot in 2027: PDP Vows Revenge After By-Election Defeat

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that economic hardship and insecurity will be the central issues determining the outcome of the 2027 general elections, vowing to fiercely resist any form of electoral manipulation after criticising the conduct of recent by-elections.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, made the declaration on Tuesday during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, where he reacted to the results of last Saturday’s polls.

Ologunagba alleged widespread intimidation of his party’s members, claiming, “In the night to that election, all members of the PDP, prominent members, were arrested. Flip over to Taraba State. Prominent members, including elected members of our party, were arrested.” He added, “We don’t call that an election.”

Issuing a stark warning about the next general election, he said, “We’ve heard about the arrogance of the APC. What they’ve done with those elections attests to what they want to do in 2027. But I have bad news for APC. What happened in those by-elections, which they call an election, will not happen in 2027.”

He asserted that the prevailing mood of the nation would ultimately punish the ruling party. “The reason is that Nigerian people are wiser. They are hurting. What will be on the ballot in 2027 will be the hunger, the uncertainty, and the insecurity that no money can purchase.”

To illustrate the depth of the national crisis, he shared a personal anecdote: “Only last week, in my little village, the chairman of my party was kidnapped. Now it is so sad that when people get kidnapped in this country, you don’t even talk to the police. They say, go and look for the money. It sounds like a new normal. That’s what will be on the ballot.”

Concluding his argument, Mr Ologunagba stated, “Nigerian people will defeat them because they brought hunger to this country. For more than 10 years now, APC has been a point of pain for Nigeria.”

In the same briefing, the PDP spokesman also reaffirmed that the party’s elective national convention scheduled for November in Ibadan remains sacrosanct, dismissing rumours of a parallel event as a “non-existing thing” and mere “media hype.”