2027: We’re working to unite Peter Obi, Atiku, others – Lukman
Salihu Lukman, former Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum, has said that 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 urged opposition parties to realize that their battle is not against one another but against the APC and its Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
A former top APC official, Lukman, told Arise News in an interview that there was a proposal on the table for opposition leaders to consider.
The idea, he said, 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 on the criteria they are applying to that candidate. They will decide among themselves.
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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 let me remind you of the question we have asked them, for emphasis. At the end of the day, there must be only one president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The question they need to answer themselves is, Do they want just to be candidates or do they want to win the election to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
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 have to work together and the major opponent is APC and President Bola Tinubu. “So when you now start to ask the question as if the main opponent is either former Vise President Atiku Abubakar or former Governor Peter Obi, you got 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 argument on that.”
