Follow Us on Google
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has said he entered the 2027 presidential race to tackle Nigeria’s deep-rooted challenges and give citizens “a new lease of life.”
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, said Nigeria had struggled with a leadership deficit since the country returned to democratic rule in 1979, arguing that the failure to provide effective leadership had hindered national development.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Duke said successive administrations had brought different political ideas to government but failed to develop the leadership vision required to translate those ideas into meaningful economic and political transformation.
“There has been frustration in the political system since the return to democracy. In reality, we could have done better than what we have if we had the right leadership.
“Since the return to democratic rule, there have been successive governments but there has not been one with leadership vision.
“That is why I have put up myself in order to provide the needed leadership to change the political question and provide the required development and growth.
We in the political system do not need mudslinging but to tell Nigerians what we can do for the country,” Duke said.
The PRP candidate argued that many past administrations assumed office without a clearly articulated plan for governance, stressing that the absence of a coherent national vision had contributed to repeated failures in government.
Duke also called for greater cooperation among opposition parties ahead of the 2027 election, saying the parties could defeat the incumbent administration if they were able to agree on a common candidate and campaign strategy.
According to him, the opposition must determine which of its candidates is best positioned to lead a united challenge against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He warned that failure to form such an alliance could give the President Bola Tinubu-led administration an advantage at the polls.
Duke, however, maintained that the APC could still be defeated despite its control of more than 30 states, if opposition parties abandoned individual interests and worked towards a common objective.
On the petroleum subsidy debate, the former governor backed government intervention to keep fuel prices affordable, arguing that Nigerians should not be made to bear the burden of subsidy removal.
He said it was wrong for the government to use the country’s resources in a manner that would “punish the citizens” by removing fuel subsidy and subsequently selling petroleum products to Nigerians at foreign-market rates.
Duke also endorsed state police, saying the measure should have been introduced earlier to address security challenges, particularly crimes linked to widespread poverty.
On the government’s student loan initiative, he described the policy as a positive development but warned that beneficiaries might struggle to repay the loans without adequate employment opportunities.
He therefore called for employment-generating policies to be implemented alongside student financing programmes to ensure graduates have the means to repay what they borrow.
Duke further criticised the relationship between government spending and revenue generation, arguing that Nigeria could achieve better economic outcomes by coordinating its monetary and fiscal policies.
He said such alignment was necessary to encourage wealth creation and reduce the number of Nigerians currently struggling with poverty.
