Salihu Moh. former National Vice Chairman (Northwest) of the ruling All Progressives Congress. Lukman has warned that the unbridled personal goals of major opposition political actors will ultimately ensure an easy victory for President Bola Tinubu and his governing party in the 2027 general elections.
Lukman has continuously called for the need for former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi and other opposition leaders to unite and produce a viable candidate against Tinubu instead of the existing disunity in the opposition landscape, reports Saturday Vanguard.
Speaking on Arise News Morning Show monitored in Abuja yesterday, Lukman, a founding chieftain of the opposition African Democratic Congress ADC, expressed deep concern that opposition leaders are repeating the precise mistakes that fractured their ranks ahead of the 2023 polls instead of forming a united, formidable front to challenge the incumbent administration.
Reacting to the recent court of appeal judgement in Abuja that voided an earlier High Court ruling mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the ADC and four other political parties, Lukman said legal victories mean nothing without true political cohesiveness.
But as a Nigerian, I am not excited by all this development because if you recall, as an advocate of the coalition and the unity of the opposition leaders when we started about two years ago, the objectives were basically two, to get the opposition leaders united and to also factor the need to build a party that can hold elected leaders accountable,” Lukman said. “I think as it is today, whatever comes out of the judicial process, we can have a party that can contest the election, but I see us going back to 2023, almost repeating the same things that happened in 2023 and expecting a miracle to happen.”
He expressed sadness about the situation of government in the country under the APC, saying that the lack of a strong opposition left citizens without any realistic options.
“We are all concerned that here we are trapped with an APC government and an elected leadership that is hardly accountable and by the day, by the hour, things continue to get worse,” he remarked.
“The hope and expectation is that there will be competition on the basis of election on which better new leadership can emerge. “We as a country don’t seem to be heading that way at all and we might end up mismanaging ourselves as an opposition in the 2027 elections.”
Lukman asked the important opposition members to put the nation’s survival ahead of their individual presidential ambition, asking whether self-interest has totally overtaken national interest.
“We have to ask a question: is the personal ambition of the opposition leaders really more essential than the destiny of saving the country? Can’t the opposition leaders not face this problem with the requirement of making personal sacrifices in a way that they can be united and we can face this election?
“Look, as a person, I don’t have any restraint; I want APC and President Tinubu defeated out of government in 2027 but the way we are going about it, I am frustrated, I must be honest” he said.
Lukman explaining his personal political stand, said his disagreement with the trend of opposition politics had made him suspend his membership in the ADC weeks ago to hold wider conversations across party lines.
Look, we are confronted with a real dilemma, and I indicated two weeks ago I was suspending my membership out of exasperation. We are in a crisis right now and partisan identification is not going to help us out of this.
He said: “The weakness of the opposition is also part of the arrogance and audacity of APC leaders and President Tinubu, that is why although things are hard, they keep saying the government is achieving a lot when there is nothing to show.
Already, patriotic political actors have begun consultation efforts to get opposition politicians back to the bargaining table before the 2027 election cycle gathers full steam, he said.
“Part of the problem in managing them is that the opposition isn’t united. “The same way the opposition challenged the 2023 election, they want to challenge the 2027 election and have a different outcome,” he said. “Let us not kid ourselves, let us not kid Nigerians. “Many of us as politicians and patriotic Nigerians are committed to a new run of engagement to force the opposition leadership back to the negotiation table and negotiate a deal that is not about their personal ambition. “This country is bigger than all of them.
Lukman, in his response to debate about regional zoning systems, called for focus on competence, responsibility and systemic reforms instead than ethnic or regional feeling.
“If you bring somebody from the South who is unaccountable, it will not please me,” Lukman added. “So long as they’re going to offer a better type of leadership, be accountable to citizens that elect them and have some kind of listening ear, I will be for it.
“Credibility cannot be declared by executive order, it has to be demonstrated by the actions of the electoral umpire on election day,” Lukman said on electoral administration. He also asked for a demilitarised electoral process similar to those of other West African nations.
“The problem is that it is President Tinubu that will be giving testimony on the neutrality of INEC,” he said. INEC should be the one to prove to Nigerians that they are neutral because neutrality is not something you go looking for; anyone on the pitch can see whether they are neutral or not’.
“Even in neighbouring countries as close as Ghana, you see elections taking place almost like a normal business. It’s not every day you hear about a country coming to a complete standstill. Until then, we cannot really celebrate our elections,” he said. “Because an election is a civic obligation and citizens use it without much constraint or bazaar, whether military is there or police is there.
Lukman later appeared on Channels in the day to give the same message to opposition groups. He said:
“I would say 2027 would be more of a coronation than an election. “The pain that every Nigerian is going through is that Nigeria is not changing for the better,” he remarked.
In his words, Nigerians are suffering from economic hardship, which is obvious in their daily lives and Nigerians do not need opinion surveys to assess the success of the present administration.
“You don’t need a poll to know that Nigeria is suffering. This is the daily reality of the life of the citizens. The economy is getting tougher and people are having a tough time,” he said.
Lukman said talks on forming a wide opposition coalition had gone on for almost two years but he regretted that it had not resulted in the united platform many Nigerians had expected. The failure of opposition leaders to close ranks has encouraged the ruling party, he said.
“The arrogance of the APC today is largely because the opposition has failed to come together to challenge the ruling party. “We’re almost back to where we were in 2023,” he remarked.
He said that failure of opposition parties to unite could lead to higher voter apathy, making the political process more susceptible to manipulation.
“The confidence in the electoral process is already low. “If people begin to feel the outcome is already decided, you will see voter apathy increase and the election could just be a coronation,” he said.
Lukman, who reflected on his involvement in the establishment of the APC in 2013, confessed that the party had strayed from the progressive ideas on which it was created. “We were looking for a progressive party that would change Nigeria, but the party has degenerated over the years. “We called on its leaders to return to those ideals, but nothing happened,” he said.
He also condemned the introduction of major economic reforms including the removal of gasoline subsidy and currency rate liberalisation, stating that they were undertaken without necessary measures to cushion its effects on citizens.
Rising inflation, high food prices and diminishing agricultural output are signs that many Nigerians are yet to profit from the changes being championed by the federal government, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar said today.
But Lukman said that the duty of transforming the political landscape lies largely with the opposition. He encouraged opposition leaders to put aside their selfish ambition and work for the good of the nation by negotiating and supporting one presidential candidate who will be able to provide Nigerians credible alternative.
“My appeal is simple: Opposition leaders should show that they love Nigeria more than their personal ambition. “They must negotiate and come together and put forward one credible candidate that Nigerians can rally behind in 2027,” he said.
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