The minority caucus of the house of representatives has called on opposition parties to rally behind a single presidential candidate to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.
Frederick Agbedi, the caucus leader, spoke on Tuesday after
a meeting with the G100 Opposition Coalition, a group led by Salihu Lukman, a
chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The coalition is advocating a single opposition front and a
consensus presidential candidate to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the APC
in the upcoming elections.
Agbedi said the meeting marked the beginning of a
partnership between the minority caucus and group to mobilise opposition
politicians ahead of the polls.
“We have also used this opportunity to call on all members
of the opposition, no matter the party you belong to, no matter your ambition,
that there is strength in unity and that the opposition should unite to ensure
that we wrest power from the APC in 2027,” Agbedi said.
He urged leaders of the various opposition parties and
presidential candidates to develop what he described as an attitude of working
together, saying Nigerians are facing severe hardship and frustration.
“Nigerians are seriously in pain, Nigerians are wailing,
Nigerians are so frustrated, and there is no reason why, as opposition voices,
we should not stand up for Nigerians and bring support to them,” Agbedi said.
“Our concern is simple. As opposition parties, we seem
fragmented, and if we continue on this path, we are almost going to repeat the
2023 scenario. It’s almost like a case of handing over victory to the ruling
party, and then we go back to square one.”
He said the G100 had consulted key figures across six
opposition parties, including presidential candidates, running mates and
national chairmen, and had received “encouraging responses” to its proposal for
a common political front.
Also speaking, Lukman said the coalition had initially
scheduled the national opposition summit for August 18 but was forced to
postpone it following appeals from political leaders for additional time for
consultations and to avoid a clash with the signing of a national peace accord.
The summit, now scheduled for August 31, will be attended by
prominent opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate
of the ADC, and Peter Obi, the standard-bearer of the Nigeria Democratic
Congress (NDC), as well as leaders of various opposition parties and other
political stakeholders.
Lukman said the coalition’s intervention was driven by
concerns that divisions among opposition parties could reproduce the outcome of
the 2023 presidential election.
The former vice-chairman (north-west) of the APC said the
coalition had also constituted a technical committee to advance the
consultations, with the minority caucus of the green chamber agreeing to
nominate representatives.
He said the G100 had grown beyond its original 100 members
as more Nigerians have expressed interest in the initiative.
“This is not about us; it’s about the country,” Lukman said,
urging opposition leaders to work together to ensure the 2027 election would
not be “business as usual”.
Sergius Ogun, a member of the G100 delegation, said
opposition parties would have a better chance of defeating Tinubu if they were
united.
“Like he rightly said, the weakest of us can defeat this
president. But it will be sweeter if we come together,” the former member of
the house of representatives said.
Ogun added that opposition politicians should stop expending
their energy attacking one another and instead speak with one voice against the
ruling party.
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