…Former APC chieftain says six parties working on alliance, warns against vote splitting
Toyyibat Qasim
The convener of the G100 political pressure group, Salihu Lukman, has said opposition parties seeking to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections may unveil a consensus presidential candidate just days before the poll.
Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman of the APC, said opposition leaders were committed to the plan and were working towards reaching an agreement on a single candidate capable of challenging President Bola Tinubu.
He disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Hard Copy programme, adding that the announcement could come months, weeks or even days before the election.
“I can tell you categorically, and my confidence about that comes from what I see in the leadership of the parties: they are committed and they are working, taking all the steps necessary,” he said.
He added, “So it could be two months, some weeks to the election, or a few days to the election; they will come out and tell Nigerians this is the direction, and everybody will queue.”
The G100 was established to mobilise opposition parties towards a common political front following an all-opposition summit in Ibadan in April 2026, where participants resolved to work towards presenting a consensus presidential candidate against the APC.
Lukman said the initiative had moved beyond the pressure group’s original role, with political parties and their presidential candidates taking ownership of the process and engaging one another to build the trust required for a successful alliance.
He added that the coalition-building effort was no longer restricted to the six parties initially involved, disclosing that consultations were ongoing to bring additional parties into the arrangement.
“They are also working to expand; they are reaching out to other parties,” he said.
Trust deficit threatens opposition alliance
Lukman identified the lack of trust among opposition parties and their presidential candidates as a major obstacle to the emergence of a consensus candidate.
According to him, the parties had taken steps to address the challenge by establishing working groups to coordinate discussions and develop a framework for the proposed alliance.
He said a meeting held on August 31 agreed to establish five working groups, including one specifically mandated to work towards producing a single presidential candidate.
Under the arrangement, each participating party is expected to nominate representatives through its presidential candidate or the party leadership, based on agreed terms of reference.
Lukman explained that the structure was designed to ensure that decisions were taken by the parties and their candidates rather than imposed by external actors.
“The collegiate is basically about ensuring that both the parties and their candidates are the ones taking the decisions, and at the same time the people doing the work are people who have the mandate of both the parties and the candidates, not anybody from outside,” he said.
He maintained that the success of the initiative would depend on the willingness of the political actors to trust one another and prioritise the broader objective of defeating the ruling party.
Obi, Atiku supporters urged to embrace unity
The former APC chieftain also cautioned supporters of former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the Kwankwasiyya movement against adopting rigid positions that could undermine efforts to unite the opposition.
He argued that insisting on individual candidates at the expense of a broader coalition could ultimately benefit the APC and the Tinubu administration.
“Taking a hardline position, a rigid position, is almost like working for the APC and the Tinubu government at this point,” Lukman said.
He noted that several signatories to the G100’s open letter supporting opposition unity were themselves sympathetic to Obi or Atiku but had been urged to place national interest above individual political ambitions.
According to him, the country must take precedence over the ambitions of individual politicians if the opposition hopes to mount a credible challenge in 2027.
Lukman also cited a recent comment by Catholic cleric John Cardinal Onaiyekan on the same television station, arguing that opposition candidates could not divide their votes among multiple contenders and reasonably expect one of them to defeat the ruling party.
“The arithmetic is simple: you can’t split votes five ways and expect victory in one of you,” he said.
His remarks come amid continuing political realignments and discussions among opposition figures over how to challenge the APC in the next presidential election.
Coalition not planning to merge party manifestos
On how the proposed alliance would reconcile differences in the policy positions of participating parties, Lukman said the plan was not to merge their manifestos but to develop a common minimum programme of action for an opposition-led government.
He cited differences in policy proposals, including a Social Democratic Party candidate’s reported pledge to introduce a starting petrol pump price of N300 per litre, as an example of the issues that could require discussion among the candidates.
Lukman said the proposed programme would identify priority areas for implementation by whichever candidate eventually emerged as the coalition’s standard-bearer and won the election.
“It’s not harmonising manifestos; it’s basically to come up with a minimum programme of action which the government to be produced post-2027 will prioritise implementing,” he said.
He explained that all participating candidates would be expected to subscribe to the agreed programme before the selection of a consensus candidate.
The arrangement, he said, would prevent disagreements over policy priorities after the emergence of the coalition’s flag-bearer.
“In the event that any of them emerge as the candidate, there is no debate,” he added.
Lukman expressed confidence that the process would build on policy proposals already developed by the various presidential campaigns, including those of Obi, Prince Adewole Adebayo and other opposition figures.
Lukman rules out political ambition
The G100 convener said the eventual arrangement could take different forms, depending on the outcome of negotiations among the participating parties.
He said the coalition could produce a candidate under the African Democratic Congress, another existing political party or a new party established through an alliance.
“It could be ADC, it could be any other party, or it could be an alliance that will produce a new party,” he said.
Lukman, however, distanced himself from any personal political ambition, insisting that his involvement was driven by the desire to facilitate opposition unity rather than secure an elective or appointive position.
“I don’t have ambition to contest election and I don’t have ambition to hold any appointive or elective office,” he said.
He warned that opposition politicians risked undermining their collective objective if they remained attached to their individual candidacies despite the need for a common front.
“Politicians can lie to themselves, and at the end of the day let the candidates continue to hang on to their candidature; at the end of the day only one person will be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Explains return to ADC
Lukman also addressed his earlier withdrawal of membership from the ADC, attributing the development to internal issues within the party in Kaduna State.
He said he had since resumed membership of the party but expressed concern that its internal direction could undermine the broader objective of building a credible alternative to the existing political establishment.
According to him, he had become worried that the ADC was heading towards a pattern similar to that of the parties some opposition figures had abandoned in pursuit of political change.
He said he feared the party was “shifting to a direction where we will end up reproducing the old parties we have left.”
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