A formidable alliance of civic and pro-democracy organizations has emerged in Nigeria with the unveiling of a sweeping national policy agenda aimed at tackling the country’s deepening food insecurity and growing fears of democratic regression. The U.S.-based Big Thumb Network (BTN), in collaboration with the Indigenous Food and Allied Processors Association Network (IFAPAN) and Save Democracy Mega Alliance (SDMA), formally launched their movement during a major roundtable in Lagos on May 29, 2025.

Held at the Excellence Hotel in Ikeja, the event marked a significant milestone in a campaign that its organizers hope will reshape Nigeria’s political and socio-economic trajectory. The date — the second anniversary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assumption of office — was chosen deliberately to underscore the coalition’s dissatisfaction with the current administration’s record and to reclaim the spirit of Nigeria’s now-discontinued Democracy Day.

Jeremy Osezua, convener of Big Thumb Network and a U.S.-based governance advocate, addressed the gathering virtually. He described the state of the nation in stark terms, noting that “the symbolic theme of today’s event captures the essence of our mission.” According to Osezua, “Nigeria is enduring tribulations of hunger, insecurity, and the drift toward one-party tyranny.” He warned that the Tinubu administration, barely two years in office, was already resorting to “Machiavellian repression of opposition parties,” adding, “The people must rise, organize, and change the direction of our country.”

The roundtable was not merely symbolic but was attended by a range of civic and political actors from across Nigeria’s ideological spectrum. These included former state commissioners, civil society activists, religious leaders, opposition politicians, and representatives from various labor and good governance groups.

Among the key speakers were noted writer and apostolic activist Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi, labor rights advocate Barrister Affiong Affiong, former Ogun State commissioner Dr. Kehinde Sogunle, political analyst Dr. Dayo Kayode, and several others who offered grim assessments of the national condition and called for urgent, coordinated action.

Comrade Tony Akeni of the Save Democracy Mega Alliance and Okhaimon Aiyegbeni AA Omonhinmin of IFAPAN, both of whom co-convened the roundtable, signed a communique at the event’s close that critics say reads as both an indictment and a manifesto.

The communique expressed deep concern over what it described as the government’s lack of vision, stating, “Tinubu’s reform is nebulous, headless, heartless, elitist and fiendish.”

The communiqué accused the administration of having no coherent policy framework, which it said has resulted in a pattern of “afterthought actions” rather than deliberate planning. “Its most prominent achievement,” the communique continued, “is the pauperization of Nigerians and the plunging of life expectancy to the lowest ebb ever recorded by concerned rating institutions across Africa and the globe.”

Another thread running through the communiqué was the criticism of what the coalition sees as President Tinubu’s obsession with securing a second term. “Tinubu’s obsession with 2027 re-election politics has overshadowed realistically addressing socioeconomic issues that have turned Nigerians into scavengers in their country,” it read. Citing the administration’s “voodoo economic policy,” the communique painted a bleak picture of an economy in freefall and a populace left adrift.

The roundtable called for the immediate formation of a broad-based coalition of patriotic actors to “rescue Nigeria from the current insensitive and experimental policies of the Tinubu Administration, which have reduced Nigerians from citizens to laboratory rodents.”

Despite what they described as the president’s attempt to weaken opposition forces through mass defections and propaganda campaigns led by his “emilokan ululationists,” the coalition declared its confidence in the people’s ability to reclaim Nigeria through the ballot box in 2027. “Nigerians will decide the outcome of the 2027 general elections, not the spurious algebraic conspiracy between the federal electoral body and the judiciary,” the communique asserted.

Food insecurity dominated much of the discussion. According to the coalition, Nigeria experienced the largest spike in acute food insecurity anywhere in the world in 2024, with 31.8 million Nigerians facing near-famine conditions.

The communiqué blamed this crisis on a combination of factors: armed conflicts, terrorism, rampant corruption, wasteful governance, and systemic economic mismanagement. The coalition also pointed to a particularly harrowing phenomenon — the mass displacement and loss of life resulting from environmental disasters and violent land grabs by armed herdsmen and insurgents.

In what was perhaps the most damning section of the document, the roundtable declared that “the bloodletting by hordes of land-grabbing killer Fulani herdsmen and Islamic terrorists… is a crime against humanity and civilization.” It accused key elements of the military and political elite of enabling these atrocities by providing cover and impunity, stating that such actions constitute a direct affront to both Christian and Muslim moral teachings.

As Nigeria now holds the unenviable status of having the largest population of people living in extreme poverty, the coalition emphasized that the current food crisis is not simply a natural disaster but “a symptom of domestic governance failures.”

The communiqué ended on a somber but urgent note, warning that unless “swift, practical, purposeful and sustainable interventions are undertaken by government at all levels,” Nigeria will plunge into a humanitarian and economic catastrophe.

Despite the grim tone, organizers were adamant that the Lagos summit marked only the beginning of a broader mobilization. Plans are already underway to hold similar policy roundtables in each of the remaining five geopolitical zones. The ultimate aim is to produce a national charter for food security, democratic reform, and citizen empowerment to be presented not only to the Nigerian government but also to international development partners and regional bodies.

In his closing remarks, Omonhinmin stated, “This is not just about 2027. This is about saving our people — from hunger, from dictatorship, and from despair. We will not be silenced.”

With civil society regaining its voice and opposition forces preparing for a long road to 2027, the coalition behind the Big Thumb Network may become a defining player in Nigeria’s evolving political story. The message from Lagos was clear: the people must act — and they must act now.