Nigeria’s major opposition parties on Monday opened talks on a common political platform ahead of the 2027 general elections, with initiators proposing a framework for the emergence of a single presidential candidate and a proposed four-year transition programme to “salvage” the country.
The move was unveiled at the Summit of Nigeria’s Opposition Political Parties organised by the G100 and the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The summit brought together representatives of the African Democratic Congress ( ADM), Allied Peoples Movement ( APM), Nigeria Democratic Congress,( NDC) Peoples Democratic Party( PDP), Democratic Leadership Alliance ( DLA), Peoples Redemption Party ( PRP) and Social Democratic Party ( SDP) as well as presidential and vice-presidential candidates, national officers and members of the National Assembly Minority Caucus.

Though the presidential candidates of the ADC, Atiku Abubakar and the NDC, Peter Obi were conspicuously absent, those of the PRP, SDP and DLA namely Fonal Duke, Adewole Adebayo, Moses Adebisi were participated in the summit that brought together opposition figures from across the country.
Opening the summit, G100 leader and former APC National Vice Chairman, Mallam Salihu Mohammed Lukman, said the initiative was aimed at preventing a repeat of the fragmentation that characterised the 2023 presidential election.
Lukman noted that its is unfortunate that the opposition had repeatedly contested presidential elections in pieces, allowing the ruling party to benefit from the division of opposition votes.

He recalled the 2013–2015 negotiations that brought previously divided political forces together and resulted in the defeat of a sitting president in the 2015 election.
According to him, the lesson was not sentimental but “arithmetical”, arguing that opposition parties must agree on the rules and structure of cooperation before negotiating positions and personalities.
“Rules before outcomes. Table before seats,” Lukman told the gathering.

He disclosed that the G100 had separately consulted the leadership of the six participating parties in recent weeks, saying the discussions showed that there was broad recognition of the cost of opposition division.
“What has been missing is not analysis. It is a table,” he said.
Lukman stressed that the summit was not asking any party to dissolve or abandon its identity, nor was it asking any presidential candidate to withdraw immediately.

Rather, he said, the parties were being asked to authorise the machinery required to develop a credible framework for cooperation.
The proposed structure includes a Central Leadership Committee comprising national chairmen, national secretaries, presidential candidates and vice-presidential candidates of participating parties.
A Publicity and Communication Committee and a Legal Committee are also proposed to coordinate public messaging and legal strategy.

The G100, Lukman said, would operate principally as facilitators and observers rather than determine the outcome of the negotiations.
Five working groups are expected to produce documents within four weeks for consideration at a second summit.
They are the National Covenant for Democratic Renewal, Single-Term Transition Charter, National Reform Programme, Framework for Opposition Unity, and Roadmap to a Common Presidential Candidate.

The proposed Transition Charter would define the mandate, duration, limitations and safeguards of a four-year transition government.
Lukman said the proposed coalition would seek to establish a Government of National Competence, anchored on competence, integrity, national inclusion and fair representation.
He said the government would be committed to a disciplined, time-bound Four-Year National Reset Programme, supported by an enforceable political commitment to a single four-year term.

“We want to underline the word ‘enforceable,’” Lukman said, stressing that political agreements must be written, witnessed and backed by consequences if they are to survive changes in political interests.
He urged the parties to approach the process with candour, sequence and sacrifice.
“There is no version of this that costs nobody anything. Someone in this hall will have to accept an outcome he/she did not want. That is what unity is. It is not a communiqué. It is somebody’s disappointment, borne well,” he said.

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Frederick Agbedi, also urged opposition leaders to put aside personal ambitions and focus on removing the present government and rescuing the country from what he described as widespread suffering.
“Nigeria is in pain. Nigeria is suffering,” Agbedi said, insisting that the opposition had strength in unity.
He recalled the role of opposition unity in the 2015 election and argued that a similar strategy could produce another upset in 2027.
“If we are united, what APC did in 2015, we can repeat it,” he said.

Agbedi said opposition leaders must “think outside the box” and ensure that their principals participated fully in the coalition-building process.
He declared that the issue of a preferred candidate should not be allowed to undermine the broader objective.
“For us, there is no issue of preferred candidate,” he said, adding that opposition politicians should focus on what would benefit Nigerians rather than what would advance individual ambitions.

A representative of the ADC, Usani Usani, said the party believed the coalition proposal was workable and urged participants to ensure that the agreed formula succeeded.
He, however, raised the question of whether failure to produce a single presidential candidate should automatically be interpreted as failure of the coalition.
“Assuming we fail to produce a single presidential candidate, have we failed?” he asked, arguing that the opposition still had time to develop alternative mechanisms for cooperation if necessary.

Usani said the ADC believed the project was possible and described the moment as “now or never.”
The National Chairman of the APM, Yusuf Mamman Dankadai, described the summit as a development through which “history is being made”.
He said opposition parties had a responsibility to restore Nigeria and return power to the people, urging leaders to look beyond individual interests.

“We must look beyond our individual interest. We will stand by anything to do with the Project Nigeria,” Dankadai said.
Former Niger state Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu who spoke on PDP behalf commended the G100 for initiating the process, saying personal and pecuniary interests had been allowed to take precedence over the national interest for too long.
He said the country was now confronting insecurity and other forms of bad governance, making opposition cooperation imperative.

Aliyu said the foundation for the coalition had been laid, but urged the parties to follow the process through to its logical conclusion.
“It is our responsibility to follow it thoroughly,” he said.
The National Chairman of the PRP, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed praised the G100 for what he described as “fantastic work” and said the party was committed to the spirit and substance of the proposed alliance.

He said the opposition needed to defeat the APC in 2027, arguing that no single opposition party could achieve the objective on its own.
“No party alone can defeat APC,” Baba-Ahmed said, describing the coalition as a sign of hope for Nigerians.
He said the PRP was serious about helping to establish a new government in 2027.

The SDP national chairman, Prof. Sadiq Umar Gombe also congratulated the G100 on the initiative, describing the political situation as one requiring an urgent national rescue effort.
He said Nigerians were increasingly demanding good governance and pointed to the 2023 presidential election, when the three leading opposition candidates collectively secured more than two-thirds of the votes cast.
He also cited the outcome of the recent Osun governorship election as evidence, in his view, that voters could still mobilise to change governments when they believed circumstances demanded it.

The SDP representative expressed confidence that Nigerians, particularly voters in northern Nigeria, would support an opposition arrangement capable of presenting a credible alternative.
DLA’s presidential candidate, Ambassador Moses Olusoji, said the central objective should be to establish a government that genuinely serves the people.
He argued that the APC could be defeated if opposition parties successfully mobilised the large number of Nigerians who did not participate in the 2023 election.

According to him, only a fraction of Nigeria’s eligible voters participated in the last presidential election, leaving a potentially decisive pool of “silent majority” voters.
“If we do the needful, we would achieve the goal,” he said.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Sen. Cleopas Moses also expressed support for the initiative, saying his party was “part and parcel” of the ongoing effort.

He described the summit as timely, arguing that the country needed opposition parties to acknowledge its difficulties and collectively develop a pathway out of them.
Lukman had earlier warned that the coalition would ultimately depend less on declarations of unity than on the quality of the political architecture established to sustain it.
He said the opposition must agree on rules before determining outcomes and build the framework for cooperation before attempting to share positions.

The G100 leader also made clear that neither his organisation nor the Minority Caucus was promoting a particular presidential candidate.
“Our only interest is the one stated in the Doctrine we published on August 2: that a democracy is sustained not merely by holding elections, but by the credible possibility of an alternative government,” he said.
Lukman said Nigerians facing economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment and rising living costs were not interested in the internal calculations of political parties but wanted a credible alternative capable of governing.