As Senator Baba Kaita declares Nigeria’s impoverished majority will determine the ruling APC’s political future in 2027, glaring contradictions emerge in the opposition’s “pro-poor” posturing.
The PDP stalwart’s fiery rhetoric about voters punishing the APC for economic hardship rings hollow amid his own party’s recent hypocrisy – just last week, PDP lawmakers conspicuously avoided joining #HungerVigil protests in Lagos while privately lamenting the same cost-of-living crisis they now weaponize.
The senator’s warning comes as new National Bureau of Statistics data reveals 72% of Nigerians now live below the poverty line, with rice prices soaring to N50,000 per bag and unemployment at 45% among youth. Yet the opposition’s sudden concern for the masses raises eyebrows – the same PDP governors currently implementing painful austerity measures in their states now position themselves as saviors. In Osun, for instance, the PDP administration recently slashed worker salaries while increasing political appointees’ allowances.
Political analyst Dr. Kemi Okenyodo notes: “This isn’t about ideology but opportunism. The PDP hopes public anger over fuel subsidy pain will automatically transfer to their benefit, without offering concrete alternatives.” Indeed, during last week’s Lagos protests against economic hardship, PDP officials were notably absent from the streets, preferring to critique from air-conditioned studios.
The real question isn’t whether Nigerians are angry – nationwide #HungerVigil protests confirm they are – but whether that anger can be channeled into meaningful political change. As market trader Adenike Balogun puts it while stretching her N5000 daily budget: “APC brought hunger, but will PDP bring food? They’re all the same when they get power.”
With 30 months until the next election, the opposition faces a credibility gap as wide as the poverty gap they decry. The masses may indeed determine 2027’s outcome, but first they’ll need to see more than convenient rhetoric from those seeking their votes. As the proverb goes: “A hungry man listens with his stomach, not his ears.”
