Salihu Lukman, a former Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum, has said a framework is being put in place to ensure that the opposition fields one candidate to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2027 elections.
He stressed that opposition parties should understand that their fight is not with each other but with the APC and its Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Lukman, a former top APC official, told Arise News in an interview that a proposal had been made for opposition leaders to consider.
He said the idea was to build a framework that would allow them to operate as a cohesive unit so that they could present a united front to the Nigerian electorate by the time of the 2027 elections.
“The end goal is that we want to have one candidate, but it can’t be by proclamation,” he said. They have to sit down and agree what criteria they’re applying to that candidate. They will decide.
“Nobody is going to dictate it to them. That is why if you put the question to the supporters of each of the candidates, again, you are not being fair to the candidates because at the end of the day it is the quality of the relationship.
We have asked them the question, and, for emphasis, let me remind you of the question we have asked them. At the end of the day, there can only be one president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The question they need to answer themselves is, Do they just want to be candidates or do they want to win the election to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
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I mean, to answer that question, they will have to agree there are certain conditions that they must fulfilll for them to be able to win the election. That is the point we are now trying to get them to understand, and they all understand it.
“They need to work together, and the main opponent is the APC and President Bola Tinubu. So, when you now begin to ask the question as if the main opponent is either former Vise President Atiku Abubakar or former Governor Peter Obi, you get it wrong.
“We are putting a structure forward and we are putting a proposal to them to consider that will lead to the formation of that structure that will enable them to work as a united body, on the basis of which, by the 2027 election, they will present Nigerians with a united front.
“Look, the bottom line, and I want to say it for emphasis, is that we believe Nigerians deserve better.
We believe that the 2027 election should provide a credible alternative to Nigeria such that Nigerians can have confidence to queue behind that candidate, vote for that candidate and vote out the APC and President Bola Tinubu. I think there is no debate on that.”
