The African Democratic Congress stated on Friday that the cost-of-living crisis would decide the 2027 presidential election more than religion or ethnicity.
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, responded to a report by The Economist. The magazine projected that President Bola Tinubu could win re-election despite low popularity.
Abdullahi said the party agreed that Tinubu was widely disliked. However, he rejected the idea that the president could still secure victory. “We think the story is based on assumptions that are not necessarily correct. We agree with the story that President Tinubu is universally disliked, but we disagree that he could win the election,” he stated.
Abdullahi added that the report overstated the influence of religion and ethnicity. “The article focuses on the role that religion and ethnicity could play in the election, but the argument is overstated. Nigerians across all divides are united under the cost of living crisis that the Tinubu administration has plunged them into. And this will determine how they will vote more than anything else,” he said.
He also addressed claims that the president appeared unconcerned about the election outcome. “The article also suggests that the President does not appear like he is worried about losing the election. If it is true, then he doesn’t understand the mood of the country,” Abdullahi noted.
Furthermore, the party official claimed that the ruling All Progressives Congress could only succeed through improper means. “The only way the APC could think of winning the election is to rig it. We know that and we have our strategy to stop them,” he said.
The statement positioned economic hardship as the central issue uniting voters nationwide. As a result, the ADC maintained that daily struggles over living costs would outweigh traditional identity factors when Nigerians cast their ballots in 2027.
