Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described President Bola Tinubu as a formidable politician but criticised his administration’s performance in governance.
Duke spoke on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he assessed Tinubu’s political standing ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The PRP candidate said he did not believe Tinubu was politically stronger than he was in 2023, arguing that the President had lost some of the public sympathy he enjoyed during the last election.
“I don’t think so, I think his governance has exposed the weakness of the contraption called. I don’t think he has the sympathies he had in 2023,” Duke said.
He attributed the change in public sentiment to the economic difficulties confronting Nigerians, saying many citizens had become disillusioned with the administration.
“Things have gone harder for people, a lot of people are disillusioned by his style of governance, hope has turned into despair. Yes, you talk about structures and all that but I think on the election day they will be fighting for their own survival,” he said.
While acknowledging Tinubu’s political strength, Duke drew a distinction between the President’s political skills and his assessment of his administration.
“Give it to him, he is a formidable politician, my issue with him is governance not politics. He is weak on governance, from what we have seen over the last three years he is very weak on governance,” he said.
Duke argued that Tinubu should not be given another term, warning that continued deterioration in living conditions could worsen the country’s challenges.
The former governor, however, said defeating the incumbent would require the opposition to overcome its divisions and prepare for possible challenges on election day.
He warned that failure to unite could hand Tinubu victory, even if the President ultimately secured only a minority of the total votes cast.
“The reality is that things are bound to happen on that (election) day, how to mitigate those things should be the major concern of the opposition. I don’t like people who cry wolf after it has happened and all that. We have done this several times over, we should anticipate it, and united we stand if we do it, if we don’t, then we will only have ourselves to blame because it has repeated itself,” Duke said.
He also expressed readiness to withdraw from the presidential race if opposition parties agree on another candidate considered better positioned to challenge Tinubu.
Asked if he would step down for such a candidate, Duke said: “Absolutely. First of all, once we have commonality in objective, the next question is who is best suited for this? You need some voice of reason amongst the lot of them.”
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