The Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has hit back at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over claims that the party’s standard-bearer Peter Obi will defeat President Bola Tinubu by a wider margin in the state during the 2027 presidential election.
It described the NDC’s boasts as “wishful thinking dressed up as certainty,” warning the opposition party against treating the electorate of Lagos State as a permanent political inheritance.
The ruling party’s reaction follows recent comments by the NDC’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, who urged the APC to “take it to the bank” that Obi—now aligning under the NDC banner—would repeat and expand upon his 2023 performance in Lagos.
“2027 Is Not 2023”
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo, acknowledged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) figures from the 2023 presidential election showed Obi polling 582,454 votes against Tinubu’s 572,606 votes in Lagos.
However, he emphasized that an electoral outcome from four years ago does not guarantee future success.
“The NDC gladiators should wake up. 2027 is not 2023,” Oladejo stated. “Peter Obi’s 2023 performance in Lagos was a legitimate electoral outcome… Nobody is disputing the figures. But what the NDC must stop doing is converting one electoral outcome into a permanent political inheritance. Lagos does not belong to Peter Obi. Lagos does not belong to APC either. Lagos belongs to Lagosians.”
Oladejo mocked the NDC’s optimism, accusing the party of “distributing certificates of victory for an election that has not taken place” and relying on social media bravado rather than ground-level political organization.
The ruling party spokesman argued that the political dynamics in the country have shifted significantly over the past four years. According to Oladejo, Obi is no longer the untested candidate who swept through campaign rallies in the run-up to the 2023 ballot.
He noted that public scrutiny and independent fact-checking organizations, including Africa Check, have systematically debunked several claims made by Obi and his supporters.
“The Peter Obi phenomenon has moved from the intoxicating atmosphere of campaign rallies and social-media enthusiasm into the much harsher territory of accountability,” Oladejo said.
“The man has been demystified by scrutiny. The Nigerian public is now asking harder questions about policies, numbers, economic prescriptions, governance experience, political alliances, and the credibility of claims made on the campaign trail.”
The APC spokesperson cautioned the NDC against building its 2027 electoral strategy on expectations of youth restiveness or lingering anger from the 2020 #EndSARS protests, emphasizing that Nigerian youths require real economic opportunities rather than being exploited for votes.
“Anger is not a manifesto. Protest is not governance. A hashtag is not a development plan,” he declared, adding that young citizens deserve jobs, enterprise skills, security, and infrastructure.
Oladejo also called on opposition figures to abandon ethnic and religious cards in Lagos, describing the state as a cosmopolitan metropolis whose voters are far too sophisticated to be divided by identity politics.
Looking ahead to the next general election, Oladejo asserted that voters in Lagos will ultimately judge candidates based on their tangible contributions to the state’s economic growth and institutional development.
“You cannot spend years insulting a city and suddenly arrive at election time demanding its votes as though nothing happened,” he remarked, urging the opposition to focus on presenting credible records rather than propaganda.
Oladejo advised the opposition leadership to lower their expectations and await the true verdict of the ballot box: “Until the ballots are cast and officially counted, the NDC’s ‘wider margin’ exists only in its imagination… The old slogans have been tested. The political mythology has been scrutinised. The electorate has become more discerning. And Lagos is watching.”