By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA—The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has dismissed the just-concluded summit of Nigeria’s opposition political parties as a doomed venture, insisting the gathering only confirmed the opposition camp’s anxiety over an impending defeat in the 2027 general election.
Reacting to the summit convened by the political pressure group, G100, APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, described the summit as “dead on arrival,” accusing the participating parties of being driven by personal interest, rather than national concern.
He said if they could not organise themselves within four years, it would be an impossibility to now scramble for victory within four months.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategic Communications, Abimbola Tooki in a chat with Vanguard, the APC chairman said: “All of them are out to protect their personal interests. The question is: What have they been looking at in the last four years? It is four months to the election and they have suddenly woken from their slumber. Is that how it works?”
Also human rights lawyer and Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, said he had earlier described the coalition’s effort as “a journey to nowhere,” maintaining that the outcome of the gathering only validated that position.
“The whole thing is symptomatic of their acceptance of a crushing defeat in 2027. The best thing for them to do is to honourably withdraw and support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Keyamo told Vanguard.
APC’s dismissal of the opposition followed the first summit of Nigeria’s six main opposition parties held on Monday, August 31, Abuja, where African Democratic Congress, ADC; Allied Peoples Movement APM; Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, faction; Peoples Redemption Party, PRP; and Social Democratic Party, SDP; converged to chart a framework for cooperation ahead of the 2027 poll.
However, three heavy wights in the opposition, including ADC’s Atiku Abubakar; NDC’s Peter Obi, and Oyo State Governor and APM presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, were absent at the meeting, though it drew other presidential and vice-presidential candidates, including SDP’s Prince Adewole Adebayo, PRP’s Donald Duke, and APM’s vice-presidential candidate, Lawal Musa Daura.
In opening remarks delivered on behalf of the G100, its convener, Mallam Salihu Lukman, proposed a Government of National Competence anchored on a single four-year transition term, to be secured by what he called an enforceable transition charter.
“We want to underline the word ‘enforceable.’ This gathering does not need more sincerity. Nigerian politics has never suffered from a shortage of sincere promises. What it has suffered from is promises that nobody could enforce when the person who made them changed his/her mind,” Lukman said.
Lukman anchored his case for unity on what he described as the “arithmetical” lessons of 2023, when opposition votes were split among candidates who jointly polled more than the eventual winner.
“The winner took just under nine million votes. One opposition candidate took close to seven million. Another took just over six million. Thirteen million votes on one side of the argument, under nine million on the other.
‘’The side with fewer votes formed the government, lawfully, constitutionally and entirely predictably. Nobody stole 13 million votes. We divided them ourselves, in public, and we did it knowing exactly what the consequence would be,” he stated.
The G100 summit followed an earlier opposition gathering held in Ibadan, Oyo State, this year, though that meeting was not organised by the G100.
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