2027: Makinde/Daura campaign faults Tinubu’s Pharaoh reference

The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) on Wednesday declared that President Bola Tinubu cannot lead Nigeria to the promised land, likening his administration to the biblical Pharaoh’s rule of oppression and bondage.

The organisation, through its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, said Tinubu’s recent reference to Egypt while defending the policies of his administration reinforced its position that Nigerians are being subjected to a modern-day form of bondage under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government.

Tinubu had on Monday, while addressing members of the City Boy Movement at the State House, Abuja, defended the removal of the petrol subsidy and ruled out reversing the policy, drawing on biblical and Quranic accounts of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to argue that Nigeria cannot afford to return to the subsidy regime.

“You cannot ask Moses to go back to Egypt”, Tinubu declared, insisting that reversing the policy would have serious consequences for the country’s finances.

Reacting, the MDPCO accused the President of being insensitive to Nigerians’ suffering, warning that his continued leadership beyond 2027 would bring further hardship.

“President Tinubu’s hardness of heart and refusal to heed the wailing of suffering Nigerians show that, like Pharaoh, he appears to relish the sight of citizens struggling in grinding poverty and misery.

“A leader who has subjected the people to over three years of hardship cannot but resort to scorpions if allowed to continue beyond 2027. Pharaoh cannot lead Nigeria to the promised land,” the organisation stated.

The organisation also alleged that democratic principles, including the rule of law, freedom, justice, due process, transparency, and respect for citizens’ rights, have been eroded under Tinubu’s administration.

It said Nigeria is sliding towards authoritarianism, with electoral competition, freedom of dissent, and institutional accountability increasingly under threat, citing the 2026 Human Rights Foundation Tyranny Tracker in support of its position.

Describing the country as “Pharaoh’s Nigeria”, the MDPCO alleged that officials of the Tinubu administration and APC leaders treat the nation as their personal fiefdom and Nigerians as conquered people. It also accused the government of imposing harsh taxes without sufficient accountability.

On the economy, the organisation said rising food prices, transport fares, and rents, coupled with declining purchasing power, unemployment, and inadequate healthcare funding, have worsened living conditions for millions of households.

It further criticised increases in tuition fees at federal tertiary institutions, alleging that charges have risen by as much as 300 per cent in some cases, forcing students from poor backgrounds to rely on loans without any guarantee of employment after graduation.

The MDPCO accused Tinubu’s administration of undermining the educational legacy of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom it described as the President’s claimed political patriarch. It argued that making students rely on loans contradicts the tradition of free and quality education associated with Awolowo’s administration in the former Western Region.

On security, the organisation accused the Federal Government of failing to protect citizens, alleging that bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers have continued to attack communities, schools, places of worship, and highways.

It wrote, “Nigerians are too famished to gird their loins for a journey that leads nowhere. They know that Tinubu’s promised land is a wilderness of hunger, hardship, hopelessness and uncertainty.”

The MDPCO urged Nigerians to support the presidential ambition of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the 2027 general election, describing him as a viable alternative to the APC-led government.

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According to the MDPCO, Makinde’s Reset Nigeria agenda offers a blueprint for national renewal through inclusive governance, transparency, accountability, stronger security, increased productivity, economic prosperity, and an efficient public service.

The organisation also noted that more than 103 million Nigerians have registered to participate in the 2027 general elections, expressing confidence that voters will support Makinde and bring an end to what it described as the APC’s “Pharaonic” rule.