Why Proposed Confab of Opposition Parties is Dead-On-Arrival

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

August 16, (THEWILL) — The proposal by the G100, a coalition of concerned Nigerians, to host a conference of opposition political parties, with the sole aim of selecting a single presidential candidate to challenge incumbent President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 General Election may be likened to an attempt to turn back the hands of the clock at the wrong time.

Even Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, who has openly canvassed and supported the convening of the summit, may be having second thoughts, following the cold reception from his counterparts in other parties. He saw the upcoming summit as a follow-up to a similar gathering he convened in Ibadan in May, weeks before the candidates of the ADC and the NDC went their separate ways and secured tickets from their respective political parties to contest the upcoming general election on January 16, 2027.

The governor has fulfilled the law by choosing the former Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Lawal Daura, as his running mate for the 2027 general election during the APM national convention in Bauchi on Friday, August 14, 2026. But his decision was clearly strategic.

Daura, who defected from the African Democratic Congress, ADC, after losing the party’s governorship ticket in Katsina State, was chosen to replace Ibrahim Bala, earlier announced as APM’s VP. APM, by this choice, is prepared and ready for the 2027 polls.

Former Vice President of Nigeria and candidate of the ADC, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, are also facing similar, cold calculations.

For one, the conference is coming up on Tuesday, August 18, a day before the official kick-off of electioneering for the presidential and National Assembly elections on Wednesday, August 19. The candidates, THEWILL gathered, are making serious preparations for that day and have extended consultations on the appointments to their campaign structure for the poll.

Although the G100 coalition said it has concluded the first round of consultations with the leaders of six opposition political parties, namely Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi of the ADC; Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NDC; Seyi Makinde’s APM and others, as part of efforts to build a united opposition front ahead of the 2027 general election, things are not what they seem to be.

Former National Vice-Chairman of the APC, North-West, Salihu 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.

Sources in the ADC and NDC who spoke to this newspaper in confidence agreed that though the idea behind the summit is welcome, 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.”

Moreover, THEWILL gathered that though Salihu said he had held consultations with some of these leaders on the need for the conference, he is said to have 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. He is said to be 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 geopolitical zones of the country.

Despite these obvious setbacks, the conveners are still forging ahead. In the group’s G100’s Open Letter to the leaders of the opposition, leaders of thought, civil society groups 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 would be convened in Abuja on August 18, signalling 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,” they 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 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.

Nigerian political analysis

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.

“The consultations of the past week represent only the beginning. The task ahead will require patience, courage and, above all, sacrifice. The G100 remains committed to helping facilitate the process of unity of Nigeria’s main opposition parties and leaders in good faith and in the overriding interest of Nigeria and its democracy.”

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