OPINION

Economic Despair: Masses Swayed By “Emilokan” Now Pay Triple For Fuel, Food And Live Under Fear And Frustration— Shamsudeen Ibrahim

<h4>Economic Despair<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reproduces a piece by Shamsudeen Ibrahim&comma; a public affairs analyst and an agro dealer with nationwide delivery of Sesame&comma; Groundnut&comma; Maize&comma; Rice etc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the piece&comma; he argues about the hardship in the land and how such frustration would shape 2027<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>As Tinubu continues to script his 2027 ambition through tribal calculations and political favoritism&comma; what his team has failed to grasp is that 2023 wasn’t won solely on sentiment&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>It was a fluke — a result of division&comma; silence from real power blocks&comma; and calculated desperation&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>But 2027 won’t be that easy&period; Tribalism and religion are now spent forces in the face of economic despair&comma; insecurity&comma; and hunger biting across all regions&period; Nigerians are not fools&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The same masses that were swayed by &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Emilokan” are now paying for fuel at triple the price&comma; buying food at five times the cost&comma; and living under fear and frustration&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>This government’s biggest mistake is assuming Nigerians will forget&period; They’ve returned to the same loan culture they once condemned&comma; now trying to cover their failures with buzzwords like &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;reforms&period;” In reality&comma; it’s trial and error laced with propaganda&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>What they call economic restructuring is seen by the common man as survival of the fittest — with the poor pushed further down the ladder&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Tinubu’s current strategy is to secure all six Southwest states with over 80&percnt; loyalty votes&comma; use Wike and Akpabio to divide the South-South&comma; pull Northern Christians from Kwara&comma; Benue&comma; Plateau&comma; and cherry-pick four winnable states in the Northwest and Northeast&comma; while securing 25&percnt; in the rest&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>His target&quest; Just 16–17 states and the FCT — not for national unity&comma; but for political math&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>But here’s the catch&colon; this math crumbles if the opposition gets serious&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The counterstrategy is simple — unity and credibility&period; Peter Obi brings energy&comma; Atiku has legacy and reach&comma; Kwankwaso controls grassroots machinery&comma; and even silent powerhouses like El-Rufai and Amaechi still command influence&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Goodluck Jonathan&comma; if he chooses to speak or align&comma; can completely shift the South-South equation&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>If the opposition presents a unified front — say Obi and El-Rufai&comma; or Kwankwaso on one ticket&comma; or GEJ returning to complete his tenure&comma; or Atiku running with full support — the APC house begins to shake&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Add a strategic narrative that speaks directly to people’s pain — hunger&comma; joblessness&comma; insecurity&comma; poor education — and the ground starts to shift&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Let’s not forget that even in APC strongholds like the Southwest&comma; people are beginning to see the truth&period; Tribal loyalty doesn’t fill stomachs&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Lagosians now understand the myth of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Lagos success&period;” It’s built on propaganda&comma; debt&comma; and elite capture&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Tinubu may have ruled the state&comma; but did he truly empower the masses&quest; Figures like Kayode Fayemi&comma; Aregbesola&comma; and others will challenge APC from within&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>In the North&comma; no current APC leader — not even Tinubu’s VP — enjoys blind followership&period; El-Rufai is still seen as bold&comma; unpredictable&comma; and fiercely intellectual&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Kwankwaso remains king in Kano&period; Atiku continues to be the go-to figure for many northern power brokers&period; If they unite — even loosely — APC’s calculations fall apart&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Buhari’s 12-million-vote bank is no longer available&comma; and he can’t dictate the North’s direction anymore — he has gotten everything he wanted&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>In the North-Central&comma; appointing an SGF from Benue and supporting APC figures in Plateau doesn’t equal street-level support&period; Many are still disillusioned by the Muslim-Muslim ticket and failed promises&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Even the FCT isn’t guaranteed — Wike’s drama aside&comma; people are watching&period; Protest votes could erupt&period; Kwara may lean toward the Southwest&comma; but Saraki will put up a strong fight&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>In Niger&comma; the president is relying heavily on Governor Bago’s rising popularity — but traditionally&comma; Niger aligns with the Northwest’s political direction&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>In Nasarawa&comma; influential figures like Abdullahi Adamu and Al-Makura remain quiet but will play roles when decisions are being made&period; Kogi is unpredictable — it depends on where the country is heading by 2027&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The South-South will be the real battleground&period; APC hopes to capture three states&comma; but if GEJ and Amaechi unite against Wike and Akpabio’s antics&comma; that plan collapses&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Rivers State is already boiling over political crises&comma; and if the opposition rides that wave effectively&comma; it becomes a turning point&period; Edo is still a 50-50 battleground&comma; and Delta is open&period; Cross River is APC-led but far from secured&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Southeast may not offer Tinubu much&comma; but the opposition must not ignore it&period; Obi’s presence&comma; along with figures like <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Okorocha<&sol;a> and others&comma; can deliver solid votes and a moral backbone to the campaign if well integrated into a larger coalition&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>But this all depends on the opposition dropping their egos and acting with urgency&period; Now is the time to announce a shadow cabinet — let Nigerians know who will handle the economy&comma; education&comma; youth affairs&comma; and infrastructure&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Let them see that you&&num;8217&semi;re not just running against APC&comma; but running for the people&period; That’s exactly why the president is hell-bent on fighting the opposition through proxies&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>He knows that a strong and united opposition can defeat him — especially as he remains one of the most unpopular presidents ever&comma; winning only 36&period;61&percnt; of the total vote cast in 2023&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>That’s also why Wike is tearing PDP apart through litigation and division — to ensure the opposition doesn’t find its feet&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>2027 cannot be business as usual&period; Nigerians are wiser&period; This time&comma; it’s about the soul of the country&comma; not the tribe of the candidate&period; Tinubu may have written his script&comma; but if the opposition unites and plays smart — that script can be rewritten by the people&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Let the real game begin<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The truth is&comma; forget all the noise from those in government and their supporters — 2027 isn’t secured for anyone&period; Their bragging that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Tinubu isn’t Jonathan&comma; so he can’t be a one-term president” is all fuss&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Nigerians were not as tired during GEJ’s time as they are now&period; They’ve seen all the Shege — insecurity is still rampant&comma; and poverty and inflation have reached unprecedented levels&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>So yes&comma; Tinubu can be defeated&period; Like every other leader&comma; he can&&num;8217&semi;t withstand an election driven by complete protest votes&comma; no matter the level of rigging&period; GEJ was actually more loved by Nigerians back then than Tinubu is now — yet that didn’t stop him from losing&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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