Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has said the growing support for President Bola Tinubu by opposition governors is driven by political survival, not ideology, warning that 2027 calculations are already reshaping Nigeria’s political landscape.
Sani named Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra, and Governor Alex Otti of Abia as opposition leaders who have recalibrated their stance towards the president after weighing their options.
Sani stated this on Tuesday while speaking on a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, monitored by DAILY POST in Abeokuta.
According to him, the three governors concluded that identifying with Tinubu was safer because there is “no credible and viable alternative” in the opposition.
“If you are a politician, you look at both sides of what will be better for your present and also for your future. And strategically, what will also be easier for your people.
“These opposition governors, like Otti of Labour, Soludo of APGA, and Adeleke of Accord, they have weighed the two options, and they have seen that they are safer and better identifying with Asiwaju,” he stated.
Sani argued that Soludo cannot align with Atiku Abubakar because Atiku has no support base in Anambra, and aligning fully with Peter Obi would “cage” him to the South-East.
“Peter Obi is also not a member of his own party. But he looks at the wider acceptability in terms of the whole country,” he said.
On Otti, Sani said Abia voters may have backed Obi in 2023, but Obi’s influence is limited to the South-East.
“What is the ranking of Peter in North-West, North-Central, North-East, South-South, and South-Western part of Nigeria? So, he is taking Abia to the mainstream,” Sani stated.
He said Adeleke’s case is similar, stressing that despite winning Osun with over 511,000 votes on the Accord platform, the governor knows presidential voting patterns in the state could be different.
“He has won his election, and Tinubu has stopped any form of interference to tamper with that,” Sani said, citing the President’s intervention in the EFCC freezing of Osun’s account.
The former senator asserted that the relationship is transactional, saying, “Adeleke needs Tinubu. Tinubu needs Adeleke,” he declared.
“You must secure your seat first. You must secure your state first before you think of the next thing to do,” he said.
Opposition governors backing Tinubu for political survival – Sani