The G100 coalition is considering five political parties for a joint presidential ticket against President Bola Tinubu in 2027, and the Atiku and Obi camps are in contest that threatens to disrupt opposition unity. Follow Politics
The Guardian’s checks by our correspondent found that the group had adopted an incremental approach to its mission of choosing a single opposition candidate, after some of the hopefuls for the presidency insisted on the need to assess their popularity among voters.
An influential member of the enlarged body, whose convener is Salihu Lukman, told our correspondent that the presidential candidates of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Governor Seyi Makinde, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, believe they are better options to President Tinubu.
The source said Makinde and Adebayo are of the opinion that any calculation that leaves them out of the presidential ballot would ultimately help Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) by giving them the bloc votes of the Southwest.
“Some of us feel that the best way to surmount the roadblock the presidential candidates have created to the emergence of a single opposition candidate is to reduce the number to at least five. You have heard the former Cross River governor, Donald Duke, lament the narcissistic traits of the presidential aspirants, which would deliver Tinubu a second term.
“We are not retreating, we want to see the five parties and their candidates continue their campaigns. ‘It would be between 45 and 30 days to the election when the picture would begin to emerge as to how Nigerians regard the candidates and who they are likely to vote for,’ he said. Check Election Information
Makinde had encouraged the APC standard-bearer to consider stepping down from the presidential contest and take a well-deserved rest. He further claimed that the failure of Tinubu to groom a successor makes it vital for the Southwest to provide a viable contender for the election.
Adebayo, the SDP presidential flag bearer emphasised his own part that the right of Nigerians to choose their president must not be limited.
While insisting that Tinubu did not deserve a second term in office, he had maintained that any political partnership that would not give Nigerians a better quality of life was only substituting one evil with another.
He advised our correspondent that opposition leaders should first look inward, “Politics is a game where condemnation is easy. It’s simple to criticise Tinubu, to criticise other individuals. You know you are entitled to freedom of speech, so you know how many people are saying anything about Tinubu. But in politics, it’s not how much you focus on others that gets you far. Look in the glass and ask, am I an honest political dealer? Am I a fair player?” Politics Follow
He said the quest for Nigeria’s future leader should be not only for politicians but also for citizens. The election was a good time for the country to reflect and for its population to ask important questions for the appropriate decisions, he said.
For example, have I showed interest in the affairs of my country to the extent that I can influence where the country goes? Or simply watch news and do comedy and forget about it? And if I join, will it be the right party for the right reasons? Did I join a political party for the correct reasons?
“Am I backing the right candidate for the right reason? Do I engage in political activity for personal gain? You sell your vote, you are worse than an armed thief, aren’t you?” That’s what Adebayo said.
“Are you worse than the person? You sold the only thing Nigeria gave you, the right to vote. Are you fittest to be a governor? If you are a governor would you sell the state?
“Are you working at INEC because you love democracy? “Or is it an opportunity for you to take a bribe and commit mischief?
Meanwhile, speaking at a town hall gathering in Calabar, Cross River State, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice presidential candidate, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, said the Atiku-Amaechi ticket is the strongest alternative for victory in the opposition alliance.
Amaechi, a former Minister of Transportation and Rivers State governor, said the simplest road to victory in the January 16, 2027 presidential election was the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in terms of geography and electoral arithmetic.
Amaechi insisted that the G100 should call on other parties to support the ADC, but the convener of the Big Tent Coalition, Prof Pat Utomi, insisted that he would not support any consensus arrangement that did not revolve around the Peter Obi-Rabiu Kwankwaso pairing under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
However, without specifically referring to the suggested shortlist of five political parties – the ADC, NDC, APM, SDP and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) – G100 convener, Lukman, said the group was enthusiastic about putting up one single candidate to Tinubu in next year’s election.
Lukman told Channels Television’s Hard Copy that the group has reached out to leaders of several political parties to help build support for one presidential candidate.
“Politicians can deceive themselves that they are popular, but only one person will emerge as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he stated.
He said the contenders should think about what the decision to run individually would mean, rather than their individual chances of being president.
“The big problem that you journalists keep highlighting and you don’t help at all is the trust-deficit among the parties and the candidates,” he remarked. “If we don’t address that we may not be able to achieve all these issues about coming up with a united front or a single candidate.”
Lukman advised the followers of the different opposition candidates to convince their political leaders to take decisions that would be in the country’s best interest in the long run. And he said that the problem with the proposed agreement could be the refusal of some followers to accept anyone other than their favourite candidate.
Kwankwaso refuses to step down for Atiku, ADC tells him to concentrate on APC
The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) and a former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, have exchanged words over the opposition’s strategy for the 2027 general elections with Kwankwaso ruling out stepping down from his presidential ambition in favour of the ADC candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Kwankwaso, the vise presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, also slammed Atiku, saying he had not demonstrated the capacity to give better leadership for Nigeria despite the shortcomings of the All Progressives Congress-led government.
However, the ADC-PCC asked Kwankwaso to focus his criticism on the ruling party and not its presidential candidate, accusing him of deflecting attention from the country’s difficulties and questioning his political allegiance with the APC and President Bola Tinubu. FollowPolitics
Kwankwaso’s answer to the earlier comments of the council had not addressed the substance of its concerns,” said Kola Ologbondiyan, the ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, yesterday.
Earlier, the council had asked Kwankwaso whose presidential candidate is Peter Obi to avoid assaulting Atiku and instead, focus on calling the Tinubu administration to account for its record.
It said Kwankwaso should be challenging the APC on the rising economic hardship, insecurity and falling living conditions instead of attacking Atiku and the ADC continually.
Kwankwaso, in his reply, only fleetingly acknowledged the APC but spent much of his statement attacking the ADC, the council said, questioning his objectives as an opposition figure.
“Why is Senator Kwankwaso making our candidate the issue instead of taking on the ruling APC whose policies have made life increasingly difficult for millions of Nigerians?” the council said.
It said that Nigerians were more concerned about hunger, insecurity, high fuel costs, the depreciation of the naira and the economic misery being experienced by the APC-led administration than exchanges among opposition politicians.
The council asked Kwankwaso to explain why his political attacks appeared to be more on Atiku and the ADC than on the ruling party which it blamed for the country’s present challenges.
For the avoidance of doubt, the ADC cannot and shall not be distracted by Senator Kwankwaso,” it said.
The council described the ADC as a political platform that was gaining wider acceptance. It said the party remained focused on organising Nigerians around its commitment to rescuing the country from what it termed as the failings of APC rule.
Kwankwaso, who yesterday reacted to the claims from the ADC campaign council on his verified social media profile, alleged that the council was purposefully spreading falsehood to dent the growing political clout of the NDC.
He said that ADC campaign machinery was trying to deceive Nigerians and NDC supporters in particular that the Kwankwaso-Obi ticket would at the eleventh hour join the ADC.
The former Minister of Defence also debunked claims that the NDC presidential ticket was covertly working to promote the re-election campaign of Tinubu or the electoral interests of other APC contenders.
Kwankwaso, speaking in what appeared to be a response to the claim by the ADC-PCC that he was working for the re-election of Tinubu, said the Atiku campaign council should focus on issue-based campaigning instead of attacking his personality.
The NDC has the credibility, competence and broad acceptance needed to win the 2027 presidential election, he said. He said his united ticket with Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, was a formidable force that could push out the incumbent APC. Check voting information
Let me express this very clearly and unequivocally: we will not withdraw our candidature for the ADC or any other party. “We are still confident in our ability, competence and readiness to lead Nigeria,” he said.
Obi-Kwankwaso movement would not drop its political ambition for Atiku or any other person, even as he admitted the failure of the APC government, Kwankwaso insisted.
Adebayo’s aide: Opposition initiated coalition discussions late
As the Chief Communications Adviser of the Adebayo-Bugaje Presidential Campaign, Comrade Mark Adebayo, put it, opposition groups seeking a common presidential ticket may have started too late to establish the political structures needed to beat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
“The challenge is more than agreeing on a single presidential candidate,” Adebayo told reporters in Abuja. “The parties should have started building political infrastructure for a coalition at least three years back.”
But he insisted that it was still possible to beat Tinubu if the appropriate strategy was put in place and there was mass mobilisation.
“I think the discussions of different political parties coming together to support one presidential ticket came too late. That’s a discourse that should have started at least three years ago creating crucial political infrastructures to do it. Follow Politics
“You cannot begin an important process on the eve of a general election,” he added.
He also said the disparity in political and governance beliefs of the opposition parties and their candidates was another big hurdle to establishing a united front against the ruling All Progressives Congress.
However, he was confident that Prince Adewole Adebayo could defeat Tinubu through a broad-based campaign against the current system of administration.
“By applying the right strategies of mass mobilisation of Nigerians into a movement to end this ‘corrupt’ and ‘satanic’ system that is killing our country, it is possible for an opposition candidate to defeat Tinubu next year and Prince Adewole Adebayo is working very hard to achieve that,” he said.
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