Emilokan 2027?

The 2027 presidential race is on and Tinubu is far ahead

May 13, 2025

Good morning, Big Brains. You’ll find today’s edition interesting for many reasons. I don’t have much to yap about, so let’s get into it.

- Margaret

Word count: ~ 1,200
Reading time ~ 5 mins

Let’s get into today’s edition:

Tinubu is getting more political backing ahead of 2027
The UK is changing how its postgraduate visa works

The Big Deal

Tinubu is getting more political backing ahead of 2027

We heard some of you have missed having the Jonathans in Aso Rock, but Nigeria’s former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, says the feeling isn’t mutual. Over the weekend, Patience Jonathan shut down the rumours that her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, would be running for presidency in 2027. According to her, there’s no need for her husband to return because President Tinubu is doing a fine job already.

If the former First Lady remembered that her husband is still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), she certainly didn’t act like it. She doubled down on her comments by announcing that she would most likely join the current First Lady, Remi Tinubu, to campaign for President Tinubu's reelection in 2027.

We’re not sure when the Jonathans became pro-Tinubu, but Patience Jonathan said their relationship goes way back and she won’t be “abandoning” her friend (Remi Tinubu) when she needs her in 2027.

Goodluck Jonathan has yet to publicly announce his intentions for 2027, but has recently criticised the recent defections of PDP leaders to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), suggesting that it could impose a one-party system on Nigeria.

Why is this a big deal?

The 2027 election will either usher in the relief millions of Nigerians are looking forward to or the continuation of a questionable administration. From the looks of things, it’s looking like the latter.

Like Goodluck Jonathan, thousands of Nigerians are worried that Nigeria might be turning into a one-party state and honestly, it’s not a baseless worry because we now have political leaders like Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the APC, openly saying there’s nothing crazy about adopting the one-party system.

In 2025 alone, there has been a high volume of PDP members defecting to the ruling party, including Sheriff Oborevwori, the sitting Governor of Delta State, and his cabinet members. The Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Dennis Guwor, and 21 other lawmakers also joined the defection train last week.

Ganduje claims this mass defection is because of the APC's “performance and nationwide appeal,” and not the result of a deliberate attempt. The thing is, the timing and public reputation of the party suggest that this might be a strategic attempt to give President Tinubu a soft landing into the campaign season.

If Nigeria ends up operating like a one-party state, it could mean different things for regular citizens like us. For starters, democracy will become less meaningful. Healthy democracy relies on competition, but if everyone keeps crossing over to the opposition, there’ll be nobody to challenge the ruling party or represent Nigerians with different views.

When one party dominates, it becomes easier to make decisions, good or bad, without resistance. It could also kill voters' motivation because then elections will start to feel like a formality because “APC will still win.”

You don’t need a Political Science degree to conclude that Nigeria doesn’t need political monopoly; it needs stronger parties, active opposition, and leaders who remember that power belongs to the people, not just their boys’ club.

Let’s just say the Emilokan 2027 train is moving, and we should be worried.

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The UK is changing how its postgraduate visa works

We’re not trying to be dramatic, but this is a good morning to grab your head and shout “Nigeria must work” three times because it really must. Remember when we mentioned that the United Kingdom is tightening its immigration rules? Yeah, that’s already happening.

On Monday, May 12, the British government announced that international students on the Graduate Route visa will now be allowed to remain in the country for additional 18 months after their studies instead of two years.

Don’t crash out yet because the duration reduction is just one of the many changes they’ve packed into an 82-page white paper titled Restoring Control over the Immigration System.

There’s also a chance that the UK might impose a 6% levy on foreign students' tuition fees, making them more expensive than they currently are.

The rules are much longer, and we don’t want to bore you with details that have nothing to do with you, but another interesting thing to know is that your dreams of getting that British remote job are also under threat. According to the UK’s Home Secretary, British employers will now be forced to invest more in training UK citizens instead of hiring from abroad.

We’ll not die in Ilorin in Jesus' name.

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