Donald Duke, presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), says he is willing to step down for a consensus opposition candidate ahead of the 2027 general election.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River, spoke in an
interview with Channels Television on Monday.
He said the decision on who should lead the opposition into
the election should be based on who is best suited to achieve the common
objective.
When asked during the programme, anchored by Seun
Okinbaloye, if he was willing to step down for any presidential candidate, Duke
answered in affirmative.
“Absolutely. First of all, once we have a commonality and
objective, the next question is who is best suited for this, right? But the
beauty of it is that it brings you into the playground. You know, I was liking
this thing to sports,” he said.
“When you go watch a match in a stadium, it could be 50,000,
60,000 people in the stadium, each one believing that he’s a soccer expert,
knows better than the coach, knows better than the players.
“But it’s only the 25 folks on the field of play. The 22
players, the referee and the two linesmen that would determine the play.
“I want to be in that because I think you need some voice of
reason amongst a lot of them.”
‘TINUBU IS A FORMIDABLE POLITICIAN BUT WEAK ON GOVERNANCE’
Duke warned that President Bola Tinubu may win the 2027
elections if opposition is not united ahead of the poll.
“Absolutely, with the chequered opposition it won’t work;
Tinubu might win,” the former governor said.
“The reality is that things are bound to happen on that
(election) day, how to mitigate those things should be the major concern of the
opposition.
“I don’t like people who cry wolf after it has happened and
all that. We have done this several times over, we should anticipate it, and
united we stand if we do it, if we don’t, then we will only have ourselves to
blame because it has repeated itself.”
He also admitted that the president is a formidable
politician, noting, however, that Tinubu is weak is governance.
According to him, the president does not deserve
re-election, arguing that the country is already in a state of disaster due to
what he described as poor governance.
“Give it to him, he is a formidable politician, my issue
with him is governance not politics. He is weak on governance, from what we
have seen over the last three years he is very weak on governance,” Duke said.
Duke cautioned that allowing Tinubu to continue in office
while poverty increases year after year would take the country further in the
wrong direction.
However, the PRP presidential candidate said he would put in
place a better governance structure than Tinubu’s if elected president in 2027.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic
Congress (ADC) candidate, and Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC)
candidate, are the two major opposition contenders for the 2027 presidential
election.
It is not clear if the opposition will present a consensus
candidate against President Tinubu in the elections.
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