Seven months into the four-year tenure of President Bola Tinubu, political associates of Abubakar Atiku, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, have said the former Vice President would contest again in 2027 just as there would be a coalition of political parties going into the next general election to challenge President Tinubu.
The disclosure was made yesterday by Daniel Bwala, a spokesperson of the 2023 Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation, during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
When asked if the PDP can put itself together and form a strong opposition in 2027, Bwala said: “The truth of the matter is that there will be a coalition of political parties that will be very strong. This is a fact I know, and I don’t want to talk about the details.”
He added that the upcoming coalition would swallow some of the elements creating problems in many political parties.
According to him, the President will spend eight years in office if the opposition party fails to form a coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He also accused Tinubu of instigating crises in opposition parties, making reference to the political crises confronting the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
“If you want to remove Tinubu from power, you must work 23 hours and 50 minutes. You have only 10 minutes to sleep. The 10 minutes you have to sleep is when Tinubu will be sleeping.
“Look at what he is doing as a strategic action. If you look at his antecedent in Lagos, once he took over the government, he made sure that the oppositions were either obliterated or weak. Look at what is happening.
“Some elements in the NNPP came out and said they suspended its presidential candidate. In Labour you see what the Apapa group did. They will never allow somebody to rest. In the PDP, you have seen some elements. He (Tinubu) will make sure all the political parties continue to have problems.
“But once there is a coalition of the parties, some of these people that are giving the headache in the political parties would have been swallowed. For example, once you solved the Nyesom Wike question in PDP, you would have solved all the problems,” Bwala said.
He also added that despite previous unsuccessful attempts at Nigeria’s top job, Atiku would surely contest again for presidency in the subsequent general elections.
“Sure, he (Atiku) would run. He has the capacity, he has the wisdom, he has the knowledge, he has the energy. And he is a president we never had,” Bwala said.
But a human rights activist, Deji Adeyanju, has given reasons why Atiku should resign from politics following the outcome of the 2023 presidential election. According to him, a combination of arrogance, inadequate human relationships, inability to manage the opposition, and several other lesser-known factors contributed to making Atiku lose in the 2023 polls.
Adeyanju, who made his view known in his New Year message, said if Atiku, who ran on the PDP platform, had managed the 2023 polls better, the results would have been different, and Nigeria would have had a different president.
He berated Atiku for failing to work with the likes of LP’s Peter Obi, NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso and Federal Capital Territory Minister, Wike, and the G-5 governors, which eventually paved the way for President Tinubu’s victory.
To this end, Adeyanju said Atiku should realise he has done enough and should desist from nursing any idea about contesting the 2027 presidency, but instead be a mentor to younger politicians.
The message read: “For over three decades, Atiku’s name has appeared prominently in the Nigerian political lexicon and one cannot deny the fact that he has contributed a great deal in shaping the Nigerian democracy.
“From the aborted third republic down to the recently conducted 2023 general elections, Atiku has played one role or the other in Nigeria’s politics, with varying results. However, it is now time for him to take a bow from politics and serve as a mentor for the younger generation of politicians.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Obi/Datti presidential campaign council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said Obi is the main opposition of the present administration and for the 2027 general elections.
Recall that, in the fiercely contested presidential election held on February 25, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) the winner of the 2023 presidential election after polling a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku, who scored 6,984,520 to emerge second, while Obi polled 6,101,533 votes to come distant third.
Obi had recently said that his party would continue to adjust to its “new role as the country’s main opposition party.” According to Obi, LP would remain firmly in opposition and keep the ruling APC on its toes to protect the interest of Nigerians.
Appearing on Arise News to reiterate Obi’s claim, Okonkwo said given that the LP was the only opposition with a strong agenda ahead of the 2023 general elections and its winning of 25 per cent in all the six geopolitical zones, it had cemented its opposition as the main opposition party.
He said: “To take you back to the time of the campaigns, you may remember that Peter Obi was the only person that crafted the seven-point agenda that all the other parties were copying from, albeit doing a terrible job at it. You may remember he was the one who came out as a candidate and defended his agenda which included security and uniting the country.
“Apart from knowing exactly what he wanted, he had the commensurate competence, capacity, and character to thrive, which are lacking in the other candidates.
“So that’s why he’s now saying we are the main opposition party. So, he has earned the accolade of being the main opposition leader. And I will tell you that he will do it effectively when Nigeria will realise the dream of a new nation through him.
Okonkwo also took a swipe at the FCT Minister for taking up appointment under the APC-led administration. He said Wike’s action was a sign that the PDP, to which the minister belongs, was no longer relevant in Nigerian politics.
“A presidential aspirant of the PDP (Wike), who was the first runner-up during the presidential primary election of the party, and who vowed that he would never leave the party no matter what, is now a minister in the APC, telling you that PDP has totally been absorbed by the APC.”