Less than halfway into his first four-year term in office, there are strong indications that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is already arranging his cards toward a battle with the opposition in 2027.
For long, particularly in 2024, there were talks of a broad coalition of opposition forces to coalesce into a formidable unit to take out Tinubu in 2027.
Talks have been held between opposition parties, such as the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP); the Labour Party (LP); the Advanced People’s Congress(ADC), and some factions of the New Nigerian Peoples Party(NNPP) as well as Social Democratic Party (SDP).
There were also feelers that some displeased members of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC), who worked for the president in 2023 but have not been compensated are also in the mix.
Add that to power brokers in Nigeria, who are said not to be at home with Tinubu’s power and leadership style, what you have is an armada of opposition against the president.
But Sunday Telegraph gathered that being a strategist and a planner, Tinubu is not taking the threat to his re-election with levity. While the opposition is in disarray and scrambling to rally, the President is said to be stacking his cards in preparation for an epic battle.
Part of his strategies, it was learnt, was an alliance with governors, both from his party, the All Progressives Congress(APC), and others from the opposition. The President is said to be reaching out to opposition governors, especially those of the PDP to work with him in 2027. Although some of the affected governors are nominally in the PDP, they have a deal in place to support the President in 2027.
That deal is not unconnected with the lingering crisis in the PDP and the seeming intractable nature of the leading opposition party’s crisis.
Sources knowledgeable with the ongoing negotiations insisted that some PDP governors have become disenchanted with the crisis in their party, the refusal of some major players to let go of the party, and the activities of some National Working Committee(NWC) members of the party, which appears to thwart all efforts at making peace within the party.
A party source said: “Apart from Bala Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, how many PDP governors are outspoken against the APC and its government these days? Until we lost Edo State in controversial circumstances, we had about 13 governors in our party. How many of them are speaking in the face of economic hardship that is facing the people?”
He added: “Reverse the role. If the PDP was in government and the APC was in opposition and things were like this, what would be the reaction? Can the PDP have peace? But here we are now with the country in trouble and our governors are silent. I can tell you that many of the governors are just bidding their time in our party. We may record a terrible result in 2027 if things continue the way it is.”
It was further learnt that another arm of the Tinubu army are former PDP governors, who broke ranks with the party over the candidature of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 elections. They include the FCT Minister, Senator Nyesom Wike; former Governors of Abia, Benue, and Enugu states, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Dr. Samuel Ortom, and Senator Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi respectively. There is also the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, who is in his second term. Although Makinde said that he would announce his successor in January 2026, there are indications that he would work with Tinubu along with members of the G5.
A reliable source within the G5 said: “We are just watching the PDP. Can they rise again? I doubt it. But we are still members of the party. We are committed to it but whether we will work for the party in 2027 depends on the option it picks. For sure, just like in 2023, we are opposed to a Northern candidate. We will still be opposed to the same in 2027. The South must complete its eight years. We may support Tinubu again if we do not get a suitable alternative.”
Sunday Telegraph was reliably informed that all the G5 governors and some NWC members of the PDP are neck-deep in the Tinubu 2027 project.
“Some of them are even seeking appointments in the present government. It is only that the ambassadorial list has not been announced. You would have seen some of them in the list”, said a PDP leader from the East.
There are speculations that Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi may make the list.
Tinubu is also not limiting his dealings with Governors and ex-governors. He is also reaching out to the ex-generals, mainly Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdusalami Abubakar, and by extension, Ibrahim Gusau, who form a major plank of power brokers, as far as the matter of the presidency was concerned.
That is why he physically attended the launch of IBB’s memoir in Abuja recently, where all the former Heads of State and presidents, except his predecessor, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, who was represented were in attendance.
Recall that Tinubu’s wife, Oluremi, recently visited Niger State, where she met with both IBB and Abdulsalami.
A competent source said that the meetings were not ordinary courtesy visits but were timed for discussions on Tinubu’s stay in office beyond 2027.
Before then, Sources told the Sunday Telegraph that in his efforts at thwarting the unfolding new platform, there was an attempt to curry the favour of all the former presidents of the country.
Besides, more people from other parties are coming into the APC. That is the strategy of APC to ward off and destroy the emerging coalition.
A Source said: “Look at what happened in Kaduna. It is not a happenstance. It is a deliberate attempt by the APC to work against the merger, especially in the North. Everybody is also positioning himself for a bigger pie. Some want to return to the National Assembly and they believe that it is better done via the ruling party.
“The PDP is still in a quandary and all attempts by even some of the influential leaders of the party to broker peace have failed. They want a legal solution to something political. Wike is not playing their game. They believe that Wike is the problem of the party and how to deal with him, they do not know,” volunteered another Source.
“Now, the man believes that the PDP is completely bereft of any credibility to challenge the APC. Therefore, some influential leaders of the PDP are now towing with the idea of forming another platform to challenge the APC. They believe that if that was not done, APC will gradually become a Behemoth and turn Nigeria into a – one-party state.”
This can be seen from the number of people who are daily defecting from their parties and going into APC.
The people, who have jumped the ship. While they are talking, the coalition, including El Rufai, talking to NNPP, talking to SDP.
Another Source said of Oluremi’s visit to the Minna Generals: “It is only the naïve that will see such visits as mere perfunctory. It is deeper than the ordinary eyes could see. It has deep political connotations. Just don’t think that Tinubu doesn’t know the powers that matter. He is calculative and aware of threats before him.”
The last leg of the plan is the National Assembly and the defections of opposition parliamentarians into the APC. An APC chieftain in the South West told this newspaper that those defecting know that the APC lawmakers have an automatic ticket in 2027 if they support Tinubu.
“It’s an already made deal. APC lawmakers only need to support the president and they would be returned automatically in 2027. That is settled. That is probably why you see opposition lawmakers drifting into the APC. The excuse that their parties are in crisis is not enough. They want to be part of the plan.”
Although presidency officials insist that Tinubu is focused on delivering his first four-year mandate, that appears not to remove their eyes from the schemings of the opposition to fight the president in 2027.
