Civil rights advocacy group: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has cautioned Senator Godswill Akpabio and political leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop playing God by distracting the flow of governance with early campaign for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 with two clear years to the poll.
HURIWA lambasted Akpabio and others thus: “These politicians who are clinging on to power by all conceivable means and have no idea on how to bring about succour to millions of Nigerians who are drifting rapidly into Multidimensional Poverty due to poor economic planning and implementation of draconian anti-people policies such as devaluation of the Naira by letting the national currency to float freely and degenerate in value, the hike in costs of essential commodities, and the general costs of living crisis by the federal government”.
“But these same over-fed, over-paid and over-pampered political office holders such as governors, legislators at the National Assembly and political party stalwarts of the ruling All Progressives Congress who have cornered juicy governing boards positions in federal agencies, are already constituting themselves into political nuisances by beginning illegally, an early public campaign to railroad president Tinubu for a second term even when he is only half way into the first tenure of 4 years.”
HURIWA recalled that the Senate president who spoke at the Iftar gathering confidently asserted that APC would retain power in 2027 and expand its control across more states.
“We will come back in 2027, in Jesus’ name, Amen,” he declared.
“We will offer prayers for our party, that yes, indeed, victory shall be ours in 2027. Can we say a loud amen! And we will also pray for Mr. President that his second term is assured. Can we shout a loud amen!,” he said
He Akpabio then called for a vote, saying, “Those in support of the motion that the APC should come back in 2027, say ‘aye,’ those against, say ‘nay’.” When the audience responded with a loud “aye,” Akpabio concluded, “The ayes have it.”
HURIWA has therefore reminded all the political jobbers who are already distracting the flow of governance with their illegal second term campaign for president Tinubu should know that only God has the final say regarding whom amongst us would be alive the next day just as the Rights group wondered why politicians who should be focused with delivering quality services to the citizens are never ever thinking about how to better the living conditions of the citizens but are totally focused with strategies for power grab in another two years as if to say they have the power of life and death which is domiciled only with God.
HURIWA said:” Can we remind Senator Akpabio and many others about what the Senior Special Assistant on Media Affairs to President Bola Tinubu, Tunde Rahman, had revealed that the late Dr. Doyin Okupe had set up an office and assembled a team to work for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 before his passing.
Speaking at a Service of Songs held in Okupe’s honour at Trinity House, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, Rahman disclosed that Okupe took the step because he believed strongly in Tinubu’s policies and vision for Nigeria.
Rahman, who represented the president at the event, described Okupe’s death as a significant loss not only to Tinubu but also to the political class and the nation at large. This revealation should tell politicians plotting to remain in power that only God has the power of life and death just as human beings lack the supernatural powers to dictate what will happen in two years’ time.
HURIWA has, therefore, called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Professor Yakubu Mahmood to be alive to his statutory duty by warning politicians such as the Senate president Mr. Godswill Akpabio, the leaders of the All Progressives Congress and serving governors under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress to stop political campaigns for the 2027 election.
HURIWA said INEC should sanction the political parties already campaigning because the right thing to do is for politicians to await the officially approved date for the commencement of campaigns. “We urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call his political team to order and warn them to stop distracting the flow of governance by inundating Nigerians with incoherent noises about the 2027 national election that is many years away.
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko,
National Coordinator,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION
OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). March 28th, 2025.
