Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North) on Monday night predicted a landslide victory for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election, slated for January 16, 2027.
Kalu made the assertion while featuring on Arise Prime Time Live Television programme, hinging his forecast on the results emanating from a series of economic reforms carried out by the Tinubu-led administration within the last three and a half years.
President Tinubu, according to him, will win the January 16, 2027 presidential election with a landslide victory.
“The APC’s electoral strength goes beyond the personality of the President, because the ruling party enjoys a broad political structure and substantial grassroots support across the country.
“What we are seeing as social media, we are not seeing something on ground. Our party is very huge. Supporters of that party, they are large and we have huge people supporting this party to give its presidential candidate, landslide victory,” he said.
On the economy, Senator Kalu, who was the Chief Whip of the Senate in the 9th National Assembly and former Governor of Abia State, said President Tinubu has been able to stabilise the economy on the macro level.
“President Tinubu has stabilised economy on the macro level. What we are battling now, is the micro level,” he said.
He explained that the administration’s next priority should be restoring agricultural production, improving security and creating an environment in which manufacturers can access raw materials and operate at higher production capacity.
Kalu maintained that economic reforms inevitably come with temporary difficulties, drawing comparisons with Brazil’s experience under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“There is no reform on Earth. I went to first inauguration in 2002 or 2003 for President Lula da Silva of Brazil. By then, everything was down in Brazil. And he went into reform,” he recalled.
He argued that Nigerians should assess the administration’s economic policies against the long-term objective of rebuilding the economy rather than the immediate discomfort associated with the reforms.
“You can’t do reform without people suffering. You cannot, it’s not possible,” he declared.
Acknowledging the difficulties confronting ordinary Nigerians, Kalu, however, insisted that the country was beginning to experience greater economic predictability.
He cited the relative stabilisation of foreign exchange and fuel prices as important developments, arguing that businesses could now make more reliable financial projections.
“You can now sit down as a manufacturer, plan, ‘I’m going to buy dollar and so amount, I’m going to sell and so amount.’ You can now plan, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ Before, you cannot plan. You can wake up one morning, they tell you that dollar is 2,500 naira. Those things are no longer there,” he said.
He, however, urged the administration to focus more attention on manufacturing, agricultural productivity and industrial expansion, insisting that economic growth must complement the ongoing reforms.