Unite opposition to unseat Tinubu in 2027, Lukman begs Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been called upon to forge a common front for opposition political parties to unseat incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential elections.

Former Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, in an open letter to Obasanjo titled, “Satanic Leadership and Nigeria’s Boiling Point,” on Monday in Abuja, warned that if the opposition is allowed to remain in disarray, President Tinubu would have an easy ride for his second term in the 2027 poll.

He remarked that Obasanjo, alongside Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, have the moral obligation to engage all opposition political leaders in the country to unite in order to produce a functional political party that can serve as the harbinger for the emergence of godly leaders in the country.

The ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), split along various factions, have been moving in droves to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on a daily basis.

Lukman, who resigned his membership from the APC earlier in the year, envisaged a repeat of the 2023 poll where the APC won the 2023 elections due to the division within the opposition.

The former National Vice Chairman of the APC stressed that everything must be done to put Nigeria on the roadmap of producing Godly leaders to reposition the country toward the path of sustainable growth and development.

“It is not enough to lament about the fact of Satanic leadership in the country. So long as Your Excellency and other past leaders failed to assert their moral authority in ways that can lead to the emergence of Godly leaders, it is as good as working for the second term of President Asiwaju and his team of failed leaders at all levels with all the problems they created. Of course, it simply means a preference for Satanic leaders,” he said.

“My appeal, therefore, is for you and all past leaders of the country to unconditionally declare support for the emergence of Godly leaders in the country. This is only possible if mistakes of the past that led to the current sad reality of having Satanic leaders at all levels are corrected. One way of achieving that is through working to produce a functional political party.”

The Kaduna-born politician recalled how patriotic Nigerians worked to form the PDP in 1998, made it functional, and used it to negotiate a national agreement leading to Obasanjo’s emergence as the Presidential candidate and his eventual electoral victory in 1999.

He contended that it is unfortunate that Obasanjo largely contributed to producing those he termed “Satanic leaders” who took over at all levels of Nigeria, largely because all the structures that are required to facilitate the emergence of Godly leaders as candidates for elections were weakened, if not destroyed.

He reminded Obasanjo that one of his unintended roles was how he inadvertently institutionalized the practice of imposition of candidates in political parties in the polity.

He noted: “Without going into details, you will recall how in the PDP, ahead of the 2007 elections, under Your Excellency’s leadership, the practice of imposition of candidates became the political robe of the PDP.”

“Eventually, being the ruling party for sixteen years, imposition of candidates became an acceptable political rule. With imposition, basically, our democracy lost its bearing and became a shadow of the worst authoritarian system.”

“Related to imposition is the problem of rigging. Again, without trying to indict you, you will recall how INEC under Prof. Maurice Iwu, during your tenure, rigged the 2007 elections in favour of the PDP. It is a sad reminder that at that time, INEC declared the result of the Presidential election before the collation of results was concluded.”

“Like I said, Your Excellency, I don’t intend to bring all these to indict you. I am only citing them so that you are able to acknowledge your own mistakes.

There is no way we can engage in any meaningful debate about how you can play a crucial role in producing leaders with a Godly genotype for Nigeria without coming up with valid recommendations on how to deal with the twin political monsters of imposition of candidates and electoral rigging in Nigeria.”