Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has cautioned that Nigeria is teetering on the brink of total collapse under the President Bola Tinubu-led ‘incompetent, insensitive and wasteful All Progressives Congress (APC) administration’.
The Director of Strategic Communications of the Makinde/Daura Campaign, Richard Ihediwa, said that: ‘’With an estimated 140 million Nigerians (63 percent of the population) living in abject poverty, according to the World Bank’s April 2026 Nigeria Development Update, the country faces a growing risk of a humanitarian crisis with devastating consequences for its citizens.
‘This grim picture is compounded by the APC administration’s own report that approximately 70 percent of Nigerian children under the age of 10 cannot read or understand a simple sentence; an alarming revelation underscoring the huge damage the Tinubu administration has wrought on Nigeria and its next generation.”
Ihediuwa said that this came amid crushing poverty that has pushed millions of Nigerian families into misery, despair and hopelessness, even as APC government officials continue to flaunt their wealth, indulge in luxury and a lavish lifestyle.
According to the campaign organisation, ‘’This shameful display of insensitivity and betrayal of public trust foregrounds a leadership blinded by power, consumed by extravagance, and detached from the suffering masses.’’
The Makinde/Daura campaign group said that they find it troubling that Nigeria is now rated alongside Afghanistan on the world’s poverty index despite the massive resources at the disposal of the ‘Tinubu’s rudderless and wasteful administration’.
‘’The consequences are clear as Nigeria steadily slides to a failed state as a result of deepening economic crisis, weakening public institutions, worsening insecurity and declining public confidence, all fuelling social tensions and public frustration over the past three years.
‘’Of course, a government that cannot effectively implement its budgets, that flouts constitutional provisions and relies on arbitrary measures, cannot inspire the confidence needed to build a stable, prosperous nation.
‘’Today, under the APC’s visionless administration, Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit has hit an estimated $2.3 trillion, with experts stating that the gap would require approximately $100 billion annually over the next 30 years to fix.
‘’Unfortunately, there is neither disciplined fiscal management, transparent procurement, strategic investment, nor an effective deployment of public resources. The insatiable appetite for foreign loans, piling a staggering ₦166.7 trillion in public debt and mortgaging the future of over 240 million Nigerians, is deeply alarming,’’ he said.
The Makinde/Daura campaign group said that President Tinubu is burying Nigeria by instalments, saddling the nation with a debt burden her future generation won’t be able to pay.
Accordingly, Ihediuwa said that the loans have yet to translate into meaningful improvements in the lives of Nigerians, especially against the backdrop of allegations that they are being diverted to private pockets of some corrupt public officials, making the matter unpardonable.
According to the group, ‘’The fact that President Tinubu is still seeking a fresh $1.5billion credit from the World Bank even when his administration does not have any clear-cut strategy to pay back the over N166.7 trillion debt accumulated under his watch, further confirms that the president is gathering a funeral pyre for Nigeria. Hence, allowing President Tinubu another four years would amount to saying ‘yes to the whip under the midday sun ’, to quote Birago Diop in ‘Africa My Africa ’, while Nigerians continue to bear the crushing weight of economic hardship and humiliation.
“It would further mortgage the nation’s future and expose its economic sovereignty to growing external pressures with this administration’s insatiable appetite for foreign loans. With mounting public debt, the risk that borrowing could outstrip the country’s repayment capacity raises serious concerns about sustainability and the possible sovereign default, which will bring devastating consequences for Nigerians.
‘’Overall, it is clear that President Tinubu lacks the capacity, vision, stamina, and presence of mind to effectively govern Nigeria, factors responsible for his continuous absence from the theatre of governance, leaving the nation adrift at the mercy of an unelected cabal.
With about 63 percent of the Nigerian population, especially the youth demography currently in agony, despair, and restiveness, the January 16, 2027, presidential election represents a critical opportunity for Nigerians to determine the country’s political direction and future.
‘’Nigeria needs a total RESET now! It needs a new direction under a leadership that is present, competent, and committed to placing the interests and well-being of citizens above personal comfort and ego. These are the qualities Seyi Makinde represents.