BENIN CITY — The All Progressives Congress (APC)’s drive to secure the South-South for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid is facing a dual crisis of grassroots hostility and systemic corruption allegations.
While the Presidency characterizes the next election as a “patriotic national assignment,” the reality on the streets of Benin City tells a story of visceral resentment. A viral video of a local market woman threatening to “rub pepper” in the President’s face has become the defining image of a region pushed to the brink by inflation and what many describe as a “corruption-laden” economic transition.
‘The Pepper Protest’: Grassroots Rejection
The woman’s outburst—“If I see Tinubu, this pepper so, I go squeeze am rub him face”—resonated across social media as a raw expression of the hunger and economic desperation currently gripping the South-South.
Mobilisation efforts in the region have been further hampered by a cultural standoff. In Edo State, market women and the Oba of Benin recently rejected an attempt by the President’s daughter, Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, to install a regional “Iyaloja-General.” Critics viewed the move as an attempt to “colonise” the region’s grassroots for 2027, leading to massive protests against what traders called political extortion and cultural insensitivity.
Corruption Allegations Cloud the ‘Renewed Hope’ Agenda
The APC’s struggle to sell its 2027 “assignment” is deepened by allegations of high-level corruption and “elite excess” that contradict the government’s call for national sacrifice:
The Oshiomhole Private Jet Scandal: The emergence of Senator Adams Oshiomhole giving a foot massage to a mystery lady on a private jet has provided opposition figures with ammunition. Critics argue that while the masses are told to “sacrifice,” party leaders are living like “Pablo Escobar” on funds they believe are tied to political patronage.
Malami’s Arraignment: The recent arraignment of Abubakar Malami (SAN) for terrorism financing and money laundering has also fueled the narrative that corruption remains entrenched in the political class. While the current administration frames the trial as an anti-corruption purge, many in the South-South view it as a selective “political war” between rival APC factions.
Opposition Exploits the ‘Legitimacy Gap’
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party are capitalizing on this discontent, framing the APC’s 2027 mobilisation as an attempt to “buy another four years of corruption.”
“A government that cannot feed its people but can fly private jets and protect terrorism financiers has no right to talk about patriotism,” said a spokesperson for the Southern Caucus of the PDP.
APC Strategy: Enforced Loyalty?
In response, the APC has inaugurated a Strategy and Mobilisation Committee to bridge the divide. In Edo State alone, the Renewed Hope Ambassadors have begun a saturation campaign, erecting 320 billboards to counter the “pepper” narrative.
However, political analysts warn that as long as the perception of systemic corruption persists alongside market-level poverty, the South-South may prove to be the most difficult terrain for the President’s 2027 ambitions.
