As APC Backs Tinubu for Second Term, Ex-Minister Warns Corruption, Poverty Threaten Nigeria’s Stability

As the All Progressives Congress (APC) rallies behind President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, former Minister of Power and Steel, Elder Wole Oyelese, has warned that deepening corruption, poverty, and moral decay are pushing Nigeria toward a dangerous breaking point.

At the Lagos APC Stakeholders’ Forum, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led former Governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, alongside other party leaders, to endorse Tinubu’s second-term ambition.

Fashola expressed concern over declining voter turnout despite rising registration figures, urging the party to investigate the cause. Lagos APC Chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, announced cash rewards to boost mobilisation ahead of the 2027 elections and pledged refunds for nomination fees paid by aspirants in the last local government polls.

Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat reaffirmed Lagos APC’s support for Tinubu, commending his leadership and reform agenda aimed at driving national recovery.

However, Elder Oyelese, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), warned that Nigeria’s leadership failure, corruption, and rising hardship could spark a “grassroots explosion.”

He said, “Nigeria is sitting on a moral volcano. Each act of injustice and looted fund adds heat to that volcano. When leadership loses its conscience, the governed will rise, not out of disloyalty, but survival.”

Oyelese criticised state governors for what he described as “emperorship mentality,” accusing them of poor governance despite huge allocations. He urged President Tinubu to enforce true local government autonomy, describing it as “the lifeline of democracy.”

Meanwhile, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, pledged full support for Tinubu and his allies, declaring that a “political tsunami” was imminent. “If you support Asiwaju, I’ll support you. It’s Asiwaju all the way,” he said.

In a related development, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) warned the National Assembly against proposed plans to move the 2027 general elections forward to 2026. NNPP chieftain Olufemi Oguntoyinbo said the move could destabilise governance and threaten electoral credibility.

He argued that elections require careful planning and funding, adding that the early polls proposal in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 was “ill-conceived and unnecessary.”

APC spokesman Seye Oladejo, in a statement, criticised the opposition for lacking leadership and ideological direction, blaming the decline in political accountability on the absence of credible alternatives.