A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Obidike Chukwuebuka, has warned that Nigerians could regret rejecting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 2027 presidential election, arguing that continuity is necessary to consolidate ongoing economic and institutional reforms.
Obidike, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clarivo Holdings Limited, made the argument in an interview with Vanguard while assessing the direction of the country ahead of the next presidential election.
The APC chieftain said the Tinubu administration inherited what he described as a difficult economic situation in May 2023 but had since taken what he called bold and painful decisions to address structural weaknesses.
He pointed to the removal of the petrol subsidy, foreign-exchange reforms, increased revenue mobilisation, student-loan initiatives, infrastructure projects, healthcare interventions and reforms in the oil and gas sector as evidence of the administration’s agenda.
Obidike argued that the government should not be judged solely by the immediate hardship associated with some of its policies, insisting that several reforms were designed to address structural problems whose benefits could take years to become fully visible.
He also highlighted increased Federation Account allocations to states and local governments, the Nigeria Education Loan Fund and the Supreme Court-backed local government financial autonomy as developments he said should be considered when evaluating the administration.
On infrastructure, he cited several major federal road projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road and Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.
He argued that abandoning the current reform trajectory could undermine investments already made and delay the realisation of longer-term benefits.
Obidike consequently urged Nigerians to make continuity a central consideration in the 2027 presidential election.
His position reflects one of the APC’s central arguments ahead of the election: that Tinubu’s reforms require more time to produce their full effects.
However, the argument comes amid continued public debate over the immediate economic costs of the reforms, including inflation, living costs and household purchasing power.
The 2027 election is therefore increasingly shaping up as a contest not only over political personalities but also over whether voters believe the current economic direction should be maintained or replaced.