Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has issued a pointed challenge to his political opponents, insisting he will not be intimidated into reversing the sweeping economic reforms that have defined and dogged his administration.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at a meeting with the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, a support group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), President Tinubu said critics were spreading misinformation and would not succeed in derailing his government.
“They want to scare me off? It’s a lie,” he told the gathering, which included his Vice President, eleven state governors, and several former officials.
“I’ve been through this path before. And if I have to come back over and over and over again, I’ll do the same thing. There is no better place than your own country. And no one can build it except you. We saw great things, skyscrapers. We wonder how the plane takes off and flies us from one destination to another. There was no magic of yesterday. It is the thinker of tomorrow and the future that can elevate life, that can reform us all, he said.
The remarks come amid sustained public discontent over economic hardship following the removal of Nigeria’s long-standing fuel subsidy and a major devaluation of the naira both policies introduced by the president shortly after taking office in 2023.
The President sought to reframe the narrative, arguing that the structural reforms were necessary and irreversible. In a notable admission, he suggested he bore shared responsibility for the economic conditions he inherited, saying his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, had been his political partner.
Governors from across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones attended the meeting, signalling an effort by the ruling party to consolidate support ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who heads the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, told the President that the group had activated structures at ward and polling unit level nationwide and was already generating what he described as “measurable political and civic dividends.”
President Tinubu pledged to uphold democratic principles, including the rule of law and judicial independence, telling the gathering: “We cannot submit to disobedience of a lawful order of the court; we must embrace the judiciary, whether it favours us or not. We submit to this principle of democracy, separation of powers, and understanding of the dynamics of it, and the nationhood that Nigeria is, that we must build one country. That’s what Renewed Hope is all about. You must give them that hope.
“There’s no other path for us to attain national greatness other than to build one common vision for the progress and prosperity of our people. That is what we must do,’’ he added.
He reiterated that his government is guided by a clear vision to foster inclusive growth, create opportunities for youth, and ensure that every Nigerian regardless of background or region has a stake in the country’s future..”
He also called on supporters to renew their grassroots outreach. “You represent the conscience of a nation that wants to break the shackles of poverty and hopelessness,” he said.
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