A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Dino Melaye, has said that the recent wave of defections by opposition governors to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections will not strengthen the ruling party or benefit President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Melaye argued that the so-called “governor factor” no longer determines electoral outcomes in Nigeria, citing the results of the 2023 presidential election as evidence that voters have become more independent-minded.

According to him, the performance of the Labour Party’s Peter Obi and the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar in 2023 proved that political structures controlled by governors had lost their influence.

“The 2023 election marked a political awakening, a rejection of the old order that believed power flowed from state governors. That illusion has collapsed,” Melaye said.

He noted that despite not having governors or major financiers, Obi won 11 states including the FCT, while Atiku claimed 12 states, eight of which were controlled by APC governors.

Melaye added that the APC, despite having 22 governors, “struggled to maintain voter confidence,” losing key areas like Lagos and other strongholds.

He warned that worsening economic hardship under the Tinubu administration would make 2027 “a reckoning” for the ruling party, insisting that mass discontent would drive voters to reject both APC and PDP.

“The governors can all decamp to the ruling party and hold hands on the way down; the electorate will ensure it is a spectacular collective defeat,” he said.

The former lawmaker described both APC and PDP as “political entities sitting on powder kegs,” predicting internal implosions due to corruption and loss of public trust.

Melaye portrayed the ADC as a clean, people-driven alternative “free from the baggage of looted governance.”

“The 2027 election will be an election of the governed, not of governors,” he concluded. “Nigerians have found their voice, and no power bloc can silence it again.”