• G100 considers five parties for consensus candidate
• Makinde, Adebayo defend presidential ambitions
• Amaechi backs Atiku, Utomi insists on Obi-Kwankwaso ticket
• Kwankwaso rules out stepping down for Atiku
• ADC tells NDC chieftain to focus criticism on APC
• Lukman identifies trust deficit as obstacle to unity
• Adebayo’s aide says coalition talks started too late

As the G100 coalition weighs five political parties for a common presidential ticket against President Bola Tinubu in 2027, the Atiku and Obi camps are locked in a contest that threatens to complicate opposition unity.

Checks by The Guardian revealed that the group had adopted an incremental strategy in its task of selecting a single opposition candidate, following the insistence of some presidential aspirants that they should be allowed to test their popularity among voters.

An influential member of the enlarged body, which has Salihu Lukman as its convener, told The Guardian that the presidential candidates of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Governor Seyi Makinde, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, consider themselves better alternatives to President Tinubu.

The source disclosed that both Makinde and Adebayo believe that any calculation that excludes them from the presidential ballot would ultimately benefit Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) by handing them the bloc votes of the South-West.

“Some of us believe that the best way to overcome the roadblock posed by the presidential candidates to the emergence of a single opposition candidate is to prune the number down to at least five. You have heard former Cross River governor, Donald Duke, express frustration over the egotistical tendencies of the presidential candidates, which may hand Tinubu a second term.

“We are not relenting; we want to watch the five parties and their candidates sustain their campaigns. When it is between 45 and 30 days to the election, the picture would begin to emerge of how Nigerians see the candidates and who they are most likely to vote for,” he stated.

Makinde had urged the APC standard-bearer to consider withdrawing from the presidential race and taking a deserved rest. He also argued that Tinubu’s inability to groom a successor makes it imperative for the South-West to produce a credible candidate for the election.

For his part, the SDP presidential standard-bearer, Adebayo, said Nigerians’ right to elect their president should not be abridged. While maintaining that Tinubu did not deserve a second term in office, he argued that any political alliance that failed to offer Nigerians a better quality of life would amount to replacing one evil with another.

He told The Guardian that opposition leaders should first look inwards, saying: “Politics is a game where condemnation is easy. It’s easy to criticise Tinubu, criticise other people. You can see how many people that have made comments about Tinubu because of freedom of speech. But what will take you far in politics is not how you focus on others. Focus on yourself and say, am I an honest political dealer? Am I an honest player?”

He maintained that the search for Nigeria’s next leader must involve not only politicians but also citizens. He added that the election offered the country a valuable opportunity for introspection and for citizens to make the right choices by asking relevant questions.

“For example, have I even shown interest in the affairs of my country to the point where I can dictate where the country goes? Or I just watch news and make comedy and forget about it? And if I join, am I in the right party for the right reasons? Have I joined a political party for the right reason?

“Do I support the right candidate for the right reason? Do I do political activities in order to make personal gain? If you’re one of those who sell your vote, are you not worse than an armed robber?” Adebayo remarked.

“Are you not worse than the person? If the only thing Nigeria gave you, the right to vote, you sold it. Are you fit to be a governor? If you’re a governor, would you sell the state?

“If you work in INEC, are you working there because you love democracy? Or is it an opportunity for you to collect a bribe and do mischief?”

Meanwhile, addressing a town hall meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, declared that the Atiku-Amaechi ticket was the strongest option for victory within the opposition coalition.

Amaechi, a former Minister of Transportation and Rivers State governor, argued that, in terms of geographical spread and electoral arithmetic, the ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had the clearest pathway to victory in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.

While Amaechi argued that the G100 should urge other parties to rally behind the ADC, the convener of the Big Tent Coalition, Prof Pat Utomi, maintained 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 referring directly to the proposed shortlist of five political parties — the ADC, NDC, APM, SDP and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) — the G100 convener, Lukman, said the group remained optimistic about fielding a single challenger against Tinubu in next year’s election.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, Lukman disclosed that the group had brought leaders of various political parties into the effort to rally support behind a single presidential candidate.

He said politicians could deceive themselves about their popularity, but only one person would eventually become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He added that opposition candidates needed to consider the consequences of contesting separately rather than remaining fixated on their individual presidential ambitions.

He said: “The major issues which you journalists keep highlighting, and you don’t help matters at all, is the trust-deficit among the parties and the candidates. If that is not addressed, all these issues about coming up with a united front or a single candidate, we may not be able to achieve.”

Lukman urged supporters of different opposition candidates to encourage their political leaders to make decisions that would serve the country’s long-term interests. He also noted that the unwillingness of some supporters to accept a candidate other than their preferred choice could pose a challenge to the proposed arrangement.

Kwankwaso rules out stepping down for Atiku, ADC urges him to focus on APC
THE African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso have exchanged words over the opposition’s strategy for the 2027 general elections, with Kwankwaso ruling out withdrawing his presidential ambition in favour of the ADC candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Kwankwaso, the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, also criticised Atiku, arguing that the former Vice President had yet to demonstrate the capacity to provide better leadership for Nigeria, despite the failures of the All Progressives Congress-led government.

The ADC-PCC, however, urged Kwankwaso to direct his criticism at the ruling party rather than its presidential candidate, accusing him of diverting attention from the country’s challenges and raising questions about his political alignment with the APC and President Bola Tinubu.

In a statement yesterday, the ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Kwankwaso’s response to the council’s earlier remarks had failed to address the substance of its concerns.

The council had earlier urged Kwankwaso, whose presidential candidate is Peter Obi, to stop attacking Atiku and focus instead on holding the Tinubu administration accountable for its record.

It maintained that Kwankwaso should be challenging the APC over worsening economic hardship, insecurity and declining living standards rather than repeatedly targeting Atiku and the ADC.

According to the council, Kwankwaso mentioned the APC only briefly in his defence but devoted much of his response to criticising the ADC, raising questions about his priorities as an opposition figure.

“Why is Senator Kwankwaso making our candidate the issue instead of confronting the ruling APC, whose policies have made life increasingly difficult for millions of Nigerians?” the council asked.

It argued that Nigerians were more concerned about hunger, insecurity, high fuel prices, the depreciation of the naira and the economic hardship under the APC-led government than exchanges among opposition figures.

The council challenged Kwankwaso to explain why his political attacks appeared to be directed more frequently at Atiku and the ADC than at the ruling party, which it blamed for the country’s current challenges.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the ADC cannot and will not be distracted by Senator Kwankwaso,” it declared.

Describing the ADC as a political platform gaining wider acceptance, the council said it remained focused on mobilising Nigerians around its commitment to rescuing the country from what it characterised as the failures of APC governance.

Kwankwaso, who responded to the ADC campaign council’s allegations on his verified social media handle yesterday, accused the council of deliberately spreading misinformation to undermine the growing political influence of the NDC.

He alleged that the ADC campaign machinery was seeking to mislead Nigerians, particularly NDC supporters, into believing that the Kwankwaso-Obi ticket would eventually align with the ADC at the eleventh hour.

The former Minister of Defence also dismissed suggestions that the NDC presidential ticket was secretly working to advance Tinubu’s re-election bid or the electoral interests of other APC candidates.

Apparently reacting to the ADC-PCC’s allegation that he was working towards Tinubu’s re-election, Kwankwaso urged the Atiku campaign council to focus on issue-based campaigns rather than attacks on his personality.

He described his joint ticket with Obi, a former Anambra State governor, as a formidable force capable of dislodging the ruling APC, insisting that the NDC possessed the credibility, competence and nationwide acceptance required to win the 2027 presidential election.

“Let me state clearly and unequivocally: we will not withdraw our candidature for the ADC or any other party. We remain confident in our capacity, competence, and readiness to lead Nigeria,” he declared.

Kwankwaso maintained that the Obi-Kwankwaso movement would not surrender its political ambition to Atiku or any other candidate, despite acknowledging the failures of the APC-led government.

Opposition started coalition talks too late, says Adebayo’s aide
THIS came as the Chief Communications Adviser to the Adebayo-Bugaje Presidential Campaign, Comrade Mark Adebayo, said opposition parties seeking a common presidential ticket may have started too late to build the political structures required to defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Speaking with reporters in Abuja, Adebayo said the challenge went beyond agreeing on a single presidential candidate, stressing that the parties should have begun building the political infrastructure for a coalition at least three years ago.

He, however, maintained that defeating Tinubu remained possible with the right strategy and mass mobilisation.

“The conversations around different political parties coming together to support a single presidential ticket came too late in the day, in my opinion. That’s a conversation that should have begun at least three years ago by building critical political infrastructures to achieve that.

“You can’t start such a crucial process on the eve of a general election,” he added.

Adebayo also identified differences in the political and governance ideologies of the opposition parties and their candidates as another major obstacle to forming a united front against the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Despite these challenges, he expressed confidence that Prince Adewole Adebayo could defeat Tinubu through a broad-based movement against the current system of governance.

“With the application of the appropriate strategies predicated on massive mobilisation of Nigerians around 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 so hard to achieve that,” he said.