Primate Elijah Ayodele, leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church in Lagos, has warned President Bola Tinubu that he risks losing the 2027 presidential election unless he urgently addresses the grievances of Nigerians. The warning was contained in a statement sent to Legit.ng on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, and signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin.
Nigerians Ready to Express Anger at the Polls
Ayodele said Nigerians are deeply unhappy with the current administration and are prepared to use the 2027 election to express their frustration. He alleged that many of those closest to President Tinubu are deceiving him about the true state of affairs, driven not by loyalty but by a desire to access government resources.
“Tinubu is very desperate; he has not done what Nigerians want, and people surrounding him are deceiving him; they only want to eat his money. Most of the people that dropped from the party will work against Tinubu's victory, and he can lose the election if he isn't careful,” Ayodele said.
Opposition Coalition and INEC Concerns
The cleric also warned that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not prepared for the scale of tension the 2027 election is likely to generate. He described the vote as potentially violent and said a united opposition front could prove decisive against the president.
“INEC isn't prepared for what the election is going to bring out; the election will be brutal and bloody, there will be several crises in the election. The coalition of Atiku and others can take Tinubu out of office regardless of those he has with him,” Ayodele added.
Rigging Plans Will Be Resisted
Ayodele advised the president against any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the vote, saying such efforts would be met with strong resistance from the Nigerian public. He said no strategy outside of genuinely winning voter support was likely to succeed.
“All the plans to rig will be resisted by Nigerians, and mind you, the election is going to be tough, and don't expect it to be free and fair. People will show that they are desperate, and people will show they don't want APC. The party needs to pacify Nigerians; otherwise, all the magic will not work,” he stated.
APC Members Who Lost Tickets May Turn Against Tinubu
Furthermore, the clergyman alleged that party members who failed to secure tickets within the All Progressives Congress (APC) would likely turn against the president, thinning the support he may have counted on heading into the election cycle.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that ChatGPT predicted that the ruling APC would likely win Nigeria's 2027 presidential election, using the Four Horsemen framework. It cited the current opposition coalition but said the ruling APC has the edge due to possible low voter turnout and the Tinubu administration's efforts to stabilise the economy. The political climate reached a point where INEC had to issue a warning that campaigning at that time was illegal, echoing the standpoint of popular human rights lawyer Femi Falana.
