With The Aftermath of the PDP Convention, We Can Safely Say That President Tinubu Has Already Been Shadow-Reelected
By RReno Omokri
The Peoples Democratic Party just had a disputed National Convention in Ibadan. It does not matter what side of the fence you are sitting on with regard to whether or not the event was legal, the aftermath of the whole thing goes to show that the PDP has still not gotten over the fractionalisation that marked its time as a ruling party and that any thought of the party making a significant showing is a fictionalisation.
The Peoples Democratic Party has 8 Governors, including two who we know are performing their medicals before decamping to possibly the All Progressives Congress.
The eight Governors present include the following:
- Adamawa – Ahmadu Fintiri
- Bauchi – Bala Mohammed
- Plateau – Caleb Mutfwang
- Taraba – Agbu Kefas
- Zamfara – Dauda Lawal
- Oyo – Seyi Makinde
- Rivers – Siminalayi Fubara
- Osun – Ademola Adeleke
Of these Governors, only five of them turned up at Ibadan for the meet and greet, and they were as follows:
Ahmadu Fintri (Adamawa)
Caleb Muftwang (Platele)
Bala Mohammed (Bauchi)
Dauda Lawal (Zamfara)
And of course, the host Governor, Seyi Makinde (Oyo).
Governors Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers and Osun’s Ademola Adeleke, were absent.
Right there, we see a divided house. This is not surprising, given the PDP’s history, but it is still sad, considering that the APC, with its twenty-five Governors, has a militarily united house, which says a lot.
However, even as five Governors showed up, two of them, Governors Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, dissociated themselves from one of the most profound decisions taken at the Congress, the expulsion of Messrs Wike et al.
Now, this is telling because Governor Fintiri is the convention committee chairman. It does not paint a pretty picture when your convention chairman pooh-poohs your convention resolutions. That is putting it most mildly.
And then thirteen states in the federation boycotted the event, even as one of the twenty three states that were there, Kwara, staged a walkout.
There are many more things I could write about, including the legal troubles of the party at the hands of Sule Lamido, my friend, and a former Governor under the aegis of the party, who went to court against the convention, but he point has already been made.
The PDP, as it stands now, is decadent and divided, and any hopes that the Party can spring a surprise and stop the reelection of the President, God sparing his house, must be abandoned.
This is especially against the background of the unity displayed by the APC, which held its National Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, July 24, 2025, attended by all states of the federation and, more importantly, was rancour-free.
In addition, the NEC meeting ratified a new leader for the APC, who was sworn in that day without dispute, unlike the new National Chairman of the PDP, Kabiru Turaki, who had already been rejected by members of the PDP.
Now, if the PDP cannot manage a house with just eight Governors, and with the spectacularly devastating outing just experienced by Peter Obi during the recent Anambra gubernatorial election, and the twerking for the President by the only Governors of the Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, what and who will stop his reelection?
Do be serious people!
Like I said last week in my piece, “Now, if candidate Bola Tinubu was able to win the #NigerianElections2023 with just twenty Governors in support of him and a Federal Government that was strongly suspected to be against him, how would any president-minded person believe that he would lose in 2027 as an incumbent President with almost thirty Governors in support of his reelection?
Just do the maths. Whether or not there is a Trump invasion threat, the political arithmetic is overwhelmingly in President Tinubu’s favour.”
All of this is occurring while we now have one of the best democratically elected governments in history, which has expanded Nigeria’s GDP by $67 billion in just two years, moving us from a ₦269.29 trillion economy on May 29, 2023, when Asiwaju became President, to ₦372.8 trillion today, and has equally increased our national prestige by achieving the upgrading of Nigeria’s passport from the 97th strongest in the world under General Buhari to the 88th most powerful passport on Earth today, according to the the latest Henley Passport Index.
This is even as S&P Global Ratings has upgraded Nigeria’s economic outlook to “positive” from “stable”, citing the success of the Tinubu reforms, which, through the Tax Reform Act, have added more revenue streams to our economy by widening the tax base.
Moreover, the President has tamed inflation, bringing it to a three-year low of 18.02%, just as he has stabilised the economy, as affirmed by no less a personality than Dr Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the DG of the World Trade Organisation.
Finally, he stabilised the Naira, which is now, according to Business Insider, among the world’s best-performing currencies for 2025, a fact that was reiterated by Fitch Ratings.
And most President Tinubu is as good as reelected after increasing the allocation to the states by more than 100%, which means that there is even less economic will amongst opposition Governors to change, as such a move might rock the excellent revenue position they are currently experiencing.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.
