Melaye: Defecting Governors Can’t Save APC or Tinubu in 2027

Former federal lawmaker and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Dino Melaye, has dismissed the ongoing gale of defections by opposition governors into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 polls, insisting it will not translate into electoral advantage for President Bola Tinubu.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Melaye said the days when state governors dictated electoral outcomes are over, citing the 2023 presidential poll as a watershed moment.

According to him, the performance of opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi — despite not having sitting governors behind them — proved that Nigerian voters have moved beyond the old “structure-based” politics.

He recalled that Obi won 11 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) without a governor, while Atiku secured 12 states — eight of which were governed by APC at the time.

“The 2023 election ended the illusion that power flows from governors,” he said. “The ruling APC, even with 22 governors, could not deliver several of its strongholds.”

Melaye pointed to the APC’s losses in Lagos and the PDP’s upset in Delta — despite the vice-presidential candidate hailing from the state — as proof of a shift in voter behaviour.

He argued that the hardship experienced under the APC government — inflation, hunger, unemployment and rising borrowing — would amplify voter anger in 2027.

“In 2023, Nigerians were not even as pained as they are now. Yet they defied intimidation and patronage. 2027 will be the reckoning,” he warned.

The former senator said mass defections into the APC amount to a desperate survival move that will not change public mood.

“The governors can decamp together and collapse together. The era of imposed loyalty is dead. Citizens now vote by conviction,” he declared.

Melaye also dismissed both APC and PDP as parties “sitting on powder kegs of contradictions, corruption and public distrust,” predicting imminent implosion in both blocs.

He presented the ADC as the alternative force without “legacy baggage of looted governance” and aligned with younger, reform-minded Nigerians.

“The coming election will not be an election of governors but of the governed,” he said. “The handwriting is on the wall.”