The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) on Sunday urged President Bola Tinubu to abandon his re-election bid in the 2027 general elections and allow a younger generation to take over, alleging that he no longer possesses the stamina required to lead a country like Nigeria.

MDPCO is the presidential campaign organisation of the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Governor of Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde.

The organisation said the Presidency was a demanding office that required physical strength, energy and the capacity to provide effective leadership, adding that Tinubu should not continue to hold on to power when he allegedly lacked the capacity to discharge its responsibilities.

The Director of Strategic Communications of the MDPCO, Mr Richard Ihediwa, stated this in Abuja while reacting to the President’s continued foreign trips, including his latest visit to Mecca for prayers, weeks after returning from a vacation in France.

Ihediwa alleged that Tinubu could not withstand the rigours of political campaigning and had to travel to Mecca for prayers after delivering what he described as a brief and incoherent speech at the sparsely attended flag-off of his re-election campaign in Kaduna last week.

Ihediwa noted: “President Tinubu is no longer strong. He does not have the stamina to continue in office. It’s a natural tendency. All of us wish and pray to grow old, but we cannot continue to insist on holding office even when we no longer have the capacity, capability and stamina to effectively perform in the office.

“So, President Tinubu should quit and allow a younger generation to take over. The Presidency is not a retirement home. It is a very demanding office that requires a lot of stamina.

“Nigeria has been racing backwards in the last three and a half years because we have a president who is not able to lead from the front, who cannot physically oversee governance.

“President Tinubu at his age is not attuned to the aspirations of the contemporary world. He cannot invest in current technologies because these things would be confusing to him.

“So, President Tinubu should take the back seat and allow younger hands, like our presidential candidate, Engr. Seyi Makinde, to take over for the next four years to Reset Nigeria with an all-inclusive government of national unity.”

The MDPCO spokesman argued that Makinde possessed the experience, preparedness and energy required to work round the clock and deliver on his promises to Nigerians.

According to him, the country needs a president who can travel across the country, spend quality time with citizens and remain actively engaged in governance, including working into the early hours of the morning.

“Nigeria needs a president who can travel to every part of the country, spend quality time with citizens and remain actively engaged in governance, even into the early hours of the morning.

“This explains the enthusiastic reception accorded Makinde, his running mate, Lawal Daura, and the entire campaign train by Nigerians across the North-West, North-Central, North-East, South-South, South-West and South-East geopolitical zones.

“I want to use this opportunity to urge Nigerians to sustain the momentum, obtain their Permanent Voter Cards and vote out President Tinubu if he fails to heed our counsel and withdraw from the 2027 presidential race,” he added.

On the Federal Government’s announcement of a monthly N50,000 payment to vulnerable households under the National Emergency Relief and Stabilisation Intervention, Ihediwa described the initiative as a failed attempt to induce voters.

He maintained that the intervention would not sway Nigerians from their determination to vote Tinubu out of office in 2027.

The spokesman went on: “Such panic-driven financial measures cannot save President Tinubu and the APC from defeat. You can see that the APC was defeated in the Osun State governorship election despite the amount of money that they deployed.

“Again, if you look at the APC campaign flag-off in Kaduna, where over N2tn was reportedly spent to mobilise Nigerians, the campaign still flopped. This is an indication that, despite the APC government’s attempts to induce voters, Nigerians are resolute in their determination to vote out President Tinubu in January 2027.” (Nigerian Tribune)