2027: Let Tinubu Complete His Eight Years Tenure, Segun Showunmi Begs Nigerians
ABEOKUTA – A prominent Ogun State grassroots politician and promoter of the Alternative Movement, Segun Showunmi, has urged Nigerians to allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to continue in office beyond 2027, arguing that the country cannot afford what he described as an “unnecessary risk” of changing leadership at this stage.
Showunmi said although there could be an arrangement around the principle of power rotation, the immediate priority should be allowing the current administration to consolidate its policies and programmes.
He spoke on Saturday at his Itoko ward 6 while addressing members of The Alternative Movement in Abeokuta.
He said Nigeria must not be divided over the principle of political power rotation, stressing that the country had previously allowed former President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his eight-year tenure after power shifted to the North.
According to him, Buhari was allowed to complete his two terms without significant opposition from the South, and he argued that the same principle should apply to Tinubu, who is currently leading the country.
He argued that Tinubu’s administration should be given the opportunity to implement its economic policies, describing the president as someone working hard to reposition the country.
“We can have an arrangement of the pendulum, but right now we can’t take unnecessary risk. Let us cross this bridge. They will be very pleased and very pleasant about what the outcome will be after now.
“Power was in the North. Buhari did eight years. We did not disturb him. He spent the first four years sleeping in hospital; we did not begrudge him. He did a second four years.
“Now our son is there, breaking his back, breaking his head, working so hard. We are just in the country, doing all the things that need to be done,” he said.
Showunmi also dismissed arguments against rewarding the Tinubu administration with another term, insisting that the policies being implemented were aimed at addressing longstanding economic challenges.
He referenced the period between 1999 and 2003, when the South West region of the country did not vote for Obasanjo’s first time, arguing that the Yoruba race should consider the outcomes of previous electoral approaches before supporting a northerner in 2027.
According to him, the inability of successive administrations to revive the country’s refineries for decades demonstrated the need for a different approach to governance.
Showunmi maintained that Nigeria had moved beyond what he described as failed approaches of the past and should maintain its current trajectory.
“This election is Bola Tinubu’s election to win. And I’ve come home to beg my people, the Yoruba people that you will not be ashamed, because when the election is over and the people of North East and the people of North West and the people of North Central produce more votes than you, then where will you put your face?
“Therefore it is time to work now. We are back to 2003. You did not give Obasanjo a significant number in 1999. But by 2003, everything belonged to him, and that is really where I stand. And I think I have the right and the privilege and the knowledge of politics, both at the grassroots and even advocating it to come and do that. We are not a social media politician. We are not a television politician. I am a grassroots politician through and through.”
