The Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day address as a “rhetorical exercise bereft of solutions” to Nigeria’s economic and security challenges.
In a statement signed by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, on Thursday, the campaign said the President failed to provide “specific, measurable and binding” commitments on the economy and security that would enable Nigerians to hold his administration accountable.
The organisation said Nigerians had heard repeated promises of a better future in the four Independence Day speeches delivered by Tinubu since assuming office in 2023, but that the promised improvements had not materialised.
It also criticised the administration’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of petrol subsidy and the floating of the Naira, arguing that the policies had triggered sharp increases in fuel prices and weakened the national currency.
According to the campaign, the reforms had contributed to higher transportation, food and healthcare costs, reduced purchasing power, business closures and increased poverty.
It further claimed that multinational companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, PZ Cussons, Equinor, Microsoft and Uber, had exited Nigeria, citing the country’s unfavourable economic environment.
The campaign also faulted the President for promising prosperity without outlining decisive measures to tackle the country’s infrastructure deficit, promote agriculture, industrialisation and local manufacturing, or address rising public debt.
It questioned the government’s request for a fresh $1.5 billion World Bank loan while, according to the statement, domestic and external debt burdens continue to rise.
On security, the Makinde/Daura campaign said the President’s address failed to adequately reassure Nigerians affected by killings, abductions and other forms of insecurity.
It argued that Nigerians needed leadership that would “listen to them, understand their struggles, take responsibility and deliver results.”
The campaign subsequently urged Nigerians to support the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, whom it said had the capacity and blueprint to “Reset Nigeria” and guarantee the security and welfare of citizens.
The organisation called on Nigerians to use their votes to remove the APC from power at the January 16, 2027 presidential election.