2027: Salihu Lukman Says Opposition Heading For Repeat Of 2023 Mistake

Former All Progressives Congress (APC) National Vice-Chairman, Salihu Lukman, has warned that Nigeria’s opposition parties are on course to repeat the mistakes that weakened their chances in the 2023 general elections unless they unite ahead of the 2027 polls.

Speaking on Arise News’ The Morning Show on Friday, Lukman said he suspended his membership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) out of frustration with what he described as the inability of opposition leaders to put aside personal ambitions and build a united political platform capable of challenging the ruling APC.

Some analysts blamed the split within the ranks of the opposition for the ruling APC’s victory in the 2023 presidential election. The ruling APC’s Bola Tinubu secured 8.8 million votes. The major opposition parties: PDP’s Atiku Abubakar got 6.9 million votes; Labour Parties, Peter Obi got 6.1 million votes, and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso got 1.5 million votes.

Ahead of the 2027 election, talks of the opposition producing a single candidate after a meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, early this year collapsed as the PDP, ADC, NDC, APM have all fielded presidential candidates to battle against APC’s Tinubu.

While welcoming the recent Court of Appeal judgment that cleared the ADC and other political parties to participate in the 2027 elections, Lukman argued that the ruling did not address the fundamental crisis confronting the opposition.

“As a Nigerian, I’m not excited by all this development because if you recall, as an advocate of the coalition and the unity of the opposition leaders, when we started about two years ago, the objective was basically two: to get the opposition leaders united, and to also factor the need to build a party that can hold elected leaders accountable,” he said.

Lukman’s remarks come…