The campaign organisation pushing the presidential bid of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has likened President Tinubu as a “modern-day Pharaoh” over what it calls his insensitive handling of Nigeria’s worsening economic crisis.
In a statement issued Wednesday and signed by its director of strategic communications, Richard Ihediwa, the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organization (MDPCO) said the president’s recent Egypt analogy, used while defending his decision not to restore fuel subsidy, betrayed a leader out of touch with the suffering of ordinary citizens.
“Pharaoh cannot lead to a Promised Land,” the group declared, dismissing Mr Tinubu’s Independence Day claim that Nigeria is nearing a “promised land” as hollow rhetoric divorced from the hunger, hardship and uncertainty gripping households across the country.
The campaign accused the president of turning a deaf ear to public anguish, saying his “hardness of heart” suggests he takes comfort in watching citizens endure grinding poverty.
Beyond the economy, the group took aim at the administration’s record on governance, accusing it of eroding democratic institutions and shielding itself from accountability.
It also faulted the government’s education reforms, particularly steep tuition hikes and the shift to student loans, as barriers that shut poorer Nigerians out of tertiary education.
On security, the organisation said communities, schools, worship centres and highways remain dangerously exposed to bandits, terrorists and kidnappers despite government assurances.
“Nigerians are too famished to gird their loins for a journey that leads to nowhere,” Mr Ihediwa said, adding that the president’s “promised land” is in reality “a wilderness of hunger, hardship, hopelessness and uncertainty.”
Presenting Governor Makinde as the better option ahead of the 2027 election, the group said his “Reset Nigeria” agenda offers a credible blueprint for national renewal, built on inclusive governance, transparency, accountability, stronger security, economic productivity and a leaner, more efficient public service.
Mr Makinde is seeking the presidency on the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) platform and is expected to square off against Mr Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Discussion about this post