Atiku, Obi Rule Out United Opposition Against Tinubu

August 30, () — Major political parties and their leaders, on whom rests the success of the much -anticipated G100 conference on the coalition of opposition political parties against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general poll, are singing discordant tunes, few hours before the gathering at the Yar’Adua Civic Centre in Abuja on Monday, August 31, 2026.

In an interview with the BBC last Thursday, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, answered the question tactically, “We are talking among ourselves. It is an issue of strategy. Don’t bother we will come together.”

The next day, which was Friday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, offered a clearer perspective.

He said, “The ADC does not need the coalition to win the 2027 election. Atiku can do the job and that is what we are working on. We are still having talks with the G100; the conversation is not to produce a candidate but on the areas of cooperation; how to police votes, for instance.”

For Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, the coalition can only work if its major focus is about “good governance” and the scrutiny of the “character, competence and commitment of the persons involved.”

The OK Movement, a political platform set up to mobilise support for the joint ticket of Obi and his running mate, Dr. Kwankwaso, on Friday, made a subtle reference to Monday’s confab. In a statement issued after a summit in Abuja, attended by coordinators at the national, state and local government levels, Conveners Ladipo Johnson and National Secretary “ruled out any merger with an external political organisation ahead of the 2027 general election, resolved to remain an independent organisation while retaining their willingness to work with other groups with similar objectives.”

Ladipo further said that the group leaders also visited Alhaji Buba Galadima, the head of the movement’s Advisory Council, who praised their decision to maintain their independence, even from the NDC party. Sources in the ADC and NDC who spoke to this newspaper in confidence agreed that though the idea behind the summit is a welcome development, the timing is wrong and politically irrelevant.

“What are they going to come up with? It is like asking us to go back to where we are coming from. Will Obi, for instance, who pulled out of the ADC, again pull out of the party that has given him what he has been looking for, a presidential ticket, or step down for who?”, an NDC source asked.

“I agree with the conveners on the need for us to come together, but we all know that ADC is the top opposition political party today. Atiku and Amaechi already have a ticket. Also, Obi and Kwankwaso have a ticket. If you were to ask any of these formidable candidates whether they would accept cabinet positions, do you think they would agree? It is too late in the day. Maybe before Obi and Kwankwaso pulled out of ADC, not now.”

DIFFERENCES WIDEN

gathered that both the ADC and the NDC candidates have since consolidated their electoral plans to consider tinkering with them to accommodate ideas being planned by “outsiders.” Both parties are said to be currently putting final touches on their campaign council, which will be unveiled within the week, just as Abubakar and Obi have revealed their manifestos publicly.

In an address on Friday, August 21, 2026, Obi formally outlined his vision for the 2027 presidential election, declaring “that Nigeria must move from consumption to production, tackle insecurity, reduce poverty and create an economy that provides more opportunities for its citizens. Nigeria can work, and Nigeria must work.” Abubakar, on the other hand, has declared policy positions and campaign pledges for the 2027 poll. In fact, Abubakar is said to be enjoying the publicity his revised fuel subsidy removal has gained in the days, both for drawing the government into an issue-based debate and putting him in the front seat with other opposition candidates. Obi, on the other hand, continues to support fuel subsidy removal. According to him, the Federal Government has mismanaged the policy. This viewpoint has also widened the policy differences between Obi and Abubakar, key figures in the opposition, further driving them apart since they parted ways on the ADC platform.

Their insistence that the 2027 poll would be their last shot at the presidency is said to have further hardened their decision to stick to their plans. Moreso, a recent prediction by SBM Intelligence’s Ikemesit Effiong that a high voter turnout in 2027 could boost opposition competitiveness given Peter Obi’s strong popularity trends, while a lower turnout historically favours incumbents, potentially giving the APC an advantage despite President Tinubu’s lower favourability ratings, has also fortified Obi in his belief that he can go it alone.

CONFAB ORGANISERS

Efforts to reach the arrowhead of the conference on Saturday failed. Repeated calls to the head of the conference committee, Salisu Lukman, former National Vice Chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, Northwest, went unanswered.

However, the G100 coalition said it had concluded a round of consultations with leaders of six opposition political parties, namely Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi of the ADC; Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NDC; Governor Seyi Makinde, presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Party, APM, and others, as part of efforts to build a united opposition front ahead of the 2027 general election.

Lukman, on behalf of the G100, said the group had also engaged the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, describing the engagements with national chairmen, presidential candidates and their running mates as frank, constructive and encouraging.

, however, gathered that though Salihu said he had held consultations with some of these leaders on the need for the conference, he failed to get any commitment from them.

In addition, the internal dynamics within the political parties are also standing in the way of the summit. For instance, one of the conveners is said to have expressed surprise after discovering that the former governor of Kano State, Kwankwaso, is lukewarm about the summit for a strategic reason.

According to a source, the convener in question is said to have been shocked to find out that the former Kano governor and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in the 2023 poll, is already eyeing the 2031 presidency and currently using his position as a Vice-Presidential candidate to Obi to project his image in the South-South and Southeast zones of the country.

Despite these obvious setbacks, the conveners are still forging ahead

In the group’s G100 Open Letter to the Leaders of the Opposition, Leaders of Thought, Civil Society, and Nigerians of Good Conscience, issued on August 2, 2026, they articulated their mission under the Doctrine of Necessary Democratic Opposition.

According to Lukman, the opposition summit, which was initially planned for August 18 in Abuja but was postponed due to a clash of dates with the National Peace Summit, which required the attendance of political leaders and other stakeholders, shows the group’s determination to advance the proposal and bring the various opposition tendencies to the negotiating table.

He said, “We have deliberately kept these consultations away from the glare of the media, in recognition of the sensitivity of many of the discussions and the need to allow party leaders to engage frankly and constructively without the pressure of premature public commentary. We believe that, at this stage, protecting the integrity of the process is more important than publicising every meeting.”

He said the group’s engagements had revealed a clear recognition among the parties of the need to work more closely together ahead of the 2027 polls, with leaders knowing that achieving a credible and effective opposition would require sacrifice, compromise and a willingness to place the country’s interests above narrow partisan or individual considerations.

“The G100 does not presume to dictate the outcome of these conversations. Our role is to facilitate dialogue, build confidence and help create the conditions in which the participating political parties can openly consider the difficult questions of cooperation, sacrifice, accommodation and collective action,” the group said in a statement.In a recent television interview, however, Lukman expressed doubts about the chances of each of the candidates in the opposition parties to take on Tinubu and win convincingly in the upcoming 2027 polls.

“Coalition will be meaningful if all opposition leaders are united, put the country over and above personal interests, choose a candidate and support the person. If they are going the way they are, will they be happy to lose the negotiation? The pain Nigerians are going through does not need any further analysis. If the opposition does not get their acts together, Tinubu is on the way to victory,” he said.

The group said any framework that emerges from the process must recognise the legitimate interests of all participating parties while ensuring that the interests of the Nigerian people remain the overriding consideration. It added that the central argument of the Doctrine of Necessary Democratic Opposition remains that Nigeria’s democracy is strengthened when citizens are presented with a credible alternative capable of competing effectively for their mandate, warning that fragmentation among those seeking to provide that alternative serves neither the opposition nor the Nigerian people.

Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the PRP, Donald Duke sounded a similar alarm at the weekend. He warned opposition politicians that President Bola Tinubu would be extremely difficult to defeat in the 2027 presidential election without a united political front.

Duke described Tinubu as a formidable political opponent and cautioned opposition politicians against underestimating the advantage of incumbency as preparations intensify for the 2027 general election. In an interview shared on Friday by Symfoni, a podcast on its YouTube channel, Duke argued that opposition parties could not realistically defeat the APC and its presidential candidate by entering the election as a collection of fragmented parties and competing candidates.

According to him, the government’s control of state institutions creates an electoral advantage for the incumbent President that opposition politicians must acknowledge when developing their strategy.

“Even if the APC did nothing, right? They’re the party in power. If there’s a problem on that day, the IG of police will not go to any of the contestants. He’ll go to the President. So everything is skewed in favour of the incumbent. Respect that,” he said, adding, “The only way you can seriously charge tackling the incumbent is to come together to tackle and to have the force. Otherwise, you’ll be factionalised. So, I think when you talk of rigging, we’re rigging it against ourselves because of our ego. We need to come together,” he said.