Opposition Parties Adopt Coalition Framework to Challenge Tinubu in 2027

Six opposition political parties yesterday converged in Abuja to strengthen plans for a possible coalition against President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 presidential election.

 

The summit, organised by the political pressure group G-100, brought together representatives of the African Democratic Congress, Nigeria Democratic Congress, Social Democratic Party, Peoples Redemption Party, Allied Peoples Movement and a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party.

 

However, major opposition figures, including ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, were absent.

 

Also absent was the APM presidential candidate, while the party’s vice-presidential candidate, Lawal Musa Daura, attended the meeting.

 

In his opening remarks, former Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum and G-100 leader, Salihu Lukman, proposed a Government of National Competence anchored on a single four-year transition term.

 

He said the proposed arrangement would be based on competence, integrity, national inclusion and fair representation of participating parties.

 

Lukman stressed that any agreement reached by the opposition must be binding and enforceable, rather than another political promise that could be abandoned after the election.

 

“This gathering does not need more sincerity. Nigerian politics has never suffered from a shortage of sincere promises. What it has suffered from is promises that nobody could enforce when the person who made them changed his or her mind,” he said.

 

He cited the 2015 presidential election, when opposition parties united under the APC to defeat the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party, arguing that the experience demonstrated the electoral advantage of opposition cooperation.

 

He also referred to the 2023 election, noting that opposition votes were divided among several presidential candidates.

 

“Nobody stole 13 million votes. We divided them ourselves in public, and we did it knowing exactly what the consequence would be,” Lukman said.

 

He therefore proposed three standing coalition bodies: a Central Leadership Committee comprising national chairmen, national secretaries and presidential and vice-presidential candidates; a Publicity and Communication Committee; and a Legal Committee.

 

He also announced five working groups that would produce, within four weeks, proposals on a National Covenant for Democratic Renewal, a Single-Term Transition Charter, a National Reform Programme, a Framework for Opposition Unity and a Roadmap to a Common Presidential Candidate.

 

Lukman, however, clarified that the summit was not asking any party to dissolve, merge or immediately withdraw its presidential candidate.

 

“It is not asking any party to dissolve. It is not asking any party to disappear into another party. It is not asking any candidate to stand down this morning,” he said.

 

He explained that the immediate objective was to build a framework for cooperation before negotiations over specific positions and candidates.

 

Leading the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives to the summit, its leader, Fred Agbedi, urged opposition parties to replicate the unity that enabled the APC to win the presidency in 2015.

 

He said the caucus had decided to partner with the G-100 to streamline the ambitions of opposition parties and work towards a collective victory in 2027.

 

Agbedi warned that a divided opposition could repeat the experience of 2023, when opposition votes were split among different candidates.

 

Meanwhile, PRP presidential candidate Donald Duke said he was prepared to relinquish his ambition if the participating parties agreed on another candidate.

 

Duke said political egos had often stood in the way of opposition victory.

 

“If we think we can go it all alone, then we will fail,” he said.

 

Representing the ADC, its National Vice Chairman, South-South, Usani Uguru Usani, expressed confidence in the coalition process but cautioned opposition parties against attacking one another.

 

“There is something that is happening among the opposition people or party. We seem to be attacking ourselves much more than we attack a common enemy, which is not correct,” he said.

 

The APM National Chairman, Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, described the summit as historic and urged the parties to place national interest above individual ambitions.

 

Similarly, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Tanimu Turaki-led PDP faction, Babangida Aliyu, called for the coalition-building process to be replicated at the state and local government levels.

 

PRP National Chairman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said the participating parties were facing what he described as an “existential threat” through litigation but pledged that the coalition would continue.

 

“Our back is against the wall but we’ll fight back. In 2027, we will together remove this government and put the Nigerian nation on a different trajectory,” he said.

 

The SDP National Chairman, Sadiq Gombe, also pledged his party’s commitment to the coalition process, arguing that Nigerian voters had demonstrated their willingness to support candidates offering good governance.

 

The NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, described the coalition initiative as necessary to rescue the country from what he called its current comatose state.

 

At the end of the deliberations, the six parties adopted a joint communiqué committing themselves to a structured negotiation process on opposition cooperation ahead of the 2027 elections.

 

They formally established the Central Leadership Committee, Publicity and Communication Committee and Legal Committee.

 

The parties also agreed to constitute the five working groups, which are expected to submit their reports within four weeks ahead of a second summit.

 

They further resolved to communicate to the United States Government their call for the timely and lawful disclosure of all non-exempt official records concerning President Bola Tinubu that are of legitimate public interest.

 

The parties also agreed to communicate their position to the ECOWAS Commission and reaffirmed that the G-100 would remain a facilitator and observer rather than assume the authority of the political parties.

 

Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar denied deliberately boycotting the summit.

 

His Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the former vice president’s absence was unavoidable and should not be interpreted as a rejection of the coalition initiative.

 

“No. Not at all. His Excellency Atiku Abubakar’s absence was unavoidable and should not be misconstrued as a boycott. He fully supports the objective of the G-100 and remains committed to building a united, credible opposition capable of defeating the APC in 2027,” Shaibu said.

 

The summit comes against the backdrop of the recent Osun governorship election, where Governor Ademola Adeleke secured re-election despite the backing enjoyed by the APC from the Federal Government and prominent political figures.

 

The outcome has renewed debate over the ability of national political structures to translate into electoral victories at the grassroots.

 

It also underscores the importance of local issues, voters’ perception of performance and trust in determining electoral outcomes, even where a party enjoys significant national influence.