The leader of the G100 political pressure group, Salihu Lukman, has admitted that getting opposition figures Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar to work together ahead of the 2027 presidential election will be difficult.
Lukman, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, made the admission on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday while discussing efforts to unite opposition parties.
He said the major obstacle was the presidential ambition of the leading opposition figures, noting that while several candidates wanted the presidency, only one person could emerge.
“The point you raise is really a very serious issue, and all that we keep saying, which we emphasise, each one of them wants to be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but only one of them can be president,” Lukman said.
According to him, managing the competing ambitions of the opposition leaders and the loyalty of their supporters remained a difficult task.
He, however, said the G100 was urging the candidates and their supporters to place the broader objective of defeating the All Progressives Congress above individual ambitions.
Lukman warned that if opposition candidates again contest separately, the political landscape could produce a repeat of the 2023 presidential election.
“If we encourage them to go in this divided way, we will repeat what happened in 2023 and come back to square one,” he said.
He identified President Bola Tinubu and the APC as the opposition’s main political challenge, arguing that continued rivalry among opposition candidates would strengthen the ruling party.
“The main opponent is the APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. That is the main opponent. If we encourage them to continue to contest against each other, it will strengthen the main opponent,” he said.
Lukman said the G100 was pursuing two key objectives: persuading opposition leaders to negotiate towards a common presidential platform and developing a shared programme for governance.
He said the group wanted the proposed alliance to be based on more than the desire to remove the APC from power.
According to him, opposition parties must clearly explain how they intend to address Nigeria’s economic, social and governance challenges if they take power in 2027.
“It’s not about changing faces in government. It’s about also coming up to say, look, at the end of the day, we acknowledge Nigeria is faced with this problem, and this is how we intend to tackle it,” he said.
The ADC chieftain said the group had received encouraging signals from some opposition leaders, although he acknowledged that time was running out before the 2027 election.
Lukman said the success of the opposition’s proposed alliance would ultimately depend on its ability to manage the competing ambitions of the major political figures and persuade them to prioritise a common national objective.
(The Sun)