The coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027 appears to be taking shape with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) elements in the All Progressives Congress (APC) proposing an Atiku/Obi ticket to challenge the president.

Both Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on different political platforms, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party(LP) respectively, and came second and third respectively.

The duo’s joint ticket in 2019 gave APC sleepless nights, although the party’s candidate, former President Muhammadu Buhari, was later declared winner.

Sunday Telegraph gathered that the calculation is that, “the bulk of the votes comes from the North, and the easiest way to rally the northern bloc is to present one of them as a candidate.

That, it was learnt is the calculation of the CPC bloc led by former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El Rufai. Although, El Rufai had weeks ago stated that the ticket in 2027 should remain in the South, sources said the CPC bloc was convinced that an Atiku/ Obi ticket will take out Tinubu in 2027. They are banking on support from the North West, North East, South East, parts of South South and the North Central.

“Once you have that power in your hand, you can begin to talk about zoning. Without power, zoning is immaterial. That is the thinking. Let’s see what we have to do to have this power, then we can begin to talk about North and South.

“It may be difficult to have a southerner to challenge Tinubu; it will be victory to the president”, said a source in the Atiku camp.

The plan, however, is for Atiku to do one term and support Obi to become president in 2031.

An aide to the former vice president, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said Atiku has not told anybody the he would run for presidency in 2027.

“Only Atiku can decide his political future,” he said.

The aide further disclosed that opposition leaders are planning a merger conference this month.

“They were waiting for the Ramadan fast to end to hold the conference. Now that it has ended, the conference will hold this April, but no date is fixed yet.

“Those involved are the CPC element in APC, the PDP group led by Atiku, and Peter Obi’s people.

“Some ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) group like Rauf Aregbesola, are among them.

“There is no conversation of who will be the presidential candidate, no platform now; the SDP is not the final destination. They believe the candidate will emerge through competitive primaries,” he said.

But the Supreme Court judgement that recognised Senator Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee as the authentic leadership of the Labour Party, may alter this political calculation.

Obi, who is among those pushing for the coalition, was already thinking of leaving Labour Party because the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) who was sacked by the apex court last Friday, is believed to be working for President Tinubu and the APC.

Although, he has not left the party, some of his political associates have left.

Former PDP candidate in the 2021 Anambra State governorship election, Valentine Ozigbo, left the party last month to the APC to actualise his governorship ambition.

In the November 2024 local government election in Abia State, Labour Party failed to win even a single seat despite the fact that Alex Otti, who is a Labour Party governor, supervised the election. Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) won 15 out of the 17 chairmanship seats while the Young People’s Party (YPP) won the remaining two.

A source told Sunday Telegraph that all these were indications that Obi was thinking of leaving Labour Party.

“You have seen him meeting with leaders of other political parties, including Governor Bala Mohammed, who is Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum,” the source stated.

Now that the Supreme Court has returned the platform to him, it is doubtful he may want to leave, more so with the ready support of the Obidient Movement and the preparedness of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to work with him.

Atiku’s aide had earlier told this newspaper that Obi is non-committal to the coalition.

Said he: “Obi believes he cannot betray the trust reposed in him by his supporters and they don’t want him to be a running mate to anybody.”

Atiku on his part, seemed to have lost interest in PDP. The intractable crisis in the party makes it unattractive platform for an election.

Stories had emerged on Friday on Facebook that Atiku has resigned from the party. This was however, quickly denied by Paul Ibe, his media aide.

Ibe said in a statement that the rumour was “orchestrated by desperate political operatives with nothing but mischief and confusion on their agenda.

“It is a calculated attempt to mislead the public and sow discord among the millions of Nigerians who look to Atiku Abubakar for direction and leadership.”

The planned summit will decide the direction of the coalition.