2027: Opposition Parties, PDP and Bait of New Political Party

By Yusuf Usman, Abuja

As the 2027 general election draws closer, opposition elements in Nigeria have continued to rally round each other by building alliances and networking to give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a fight.

Among the strategies being considered by opposition figures is leveraging on the hardship in the country to sell alternative choices to the APC for the purpose of wrestling power from the ruling party.

It is understandable that opposition figures weigh the option of coalescing under a new political party, particularly seeing the cold shoulders extended to the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after its sixteen (16) years reign. This perception have fueled this reluctance by Nigerians to trust the party that once led the country from 1999 – 2015 before losing power to former President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC after beating the incumbent former President Goodluck Jonathan with power since 2015.

PDP was accused of lavish spending and corruption; in fact, many believe that the party wasted so much commonwealth of the nation without significant infrastructures to show during that period.

The opposition led by President Buhari and incumbent president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu marshalled these sentiments to successful tag the PDP as corrupt even when the Jonathan administration battled the Boko Haram insurgency.

Buhari promised to revive the economy, fight corruption and end the Boko Haram insurgency. However, the eight (8) years of Buhari’s rule failed to deliver on his promises but instead, ran a nepotistic regime. Economy under Buhari did not also improve while the corruption index didn’t indicate much progress.

The nation also witnessed additional forms of insecurity in the North-West, North-Central and South-East where banditry and abductions held the regions to standstill. The South-West was not spared as kidnappers started abducting, while terrorists hit a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State and traditional rulers becoming preys to terrorists on the highway from the forests where they hibernate in Ondo and Ekiti States.

It was under Buhari that the self-determination agitations escalated as championed by Sunday Igboho’s Yoruba Nation and Nnadi Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) due to the administration’s mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity.

Another APC government of President Bola Tinubu took over power on May 29 2023. Tinubu declared an end to the subsidy regime in his first address and this threw the oil price at the mercy of the market forces. Nigerians were buying per litre of petrol below N200 before Tinubu was sworn in, but the prices today fluctuates between N900 and N1,500 in the South and Northern parts of Nigeria. The naira was also floated which forced the exchange rate to record N1,600 from around N500 inherited from Buhari.

The economy responded immediately to these policies with costs of living rising, affecting the transportation sector which immediately forced the prices of food out of reach of an ordinary Nigerian. The effects snowballed into rising cost of services and living conditions which caused unimaginable hardship that fueled the August 1 – 10th 2024 #EndBadGovernance protest in some states across the country.

The protest at its planning stage saw the anxiety displayed by the government through many moves to quash it from inception as government functionaries showed panic running to courts to secure injunctions to restrict protesters. The protest eventually held, especially in the northern part of the country where youths and minors trooped into the streets in Kano and other states, with some taking laws into their hands by waving the flags of a foreign nation, and in some cases, unleashing violence, looting shops, offices, homes, and destroying public infrastructures. Security agencies went after few of them who were eventually arraigned in Abuja before the court.

Global and nationals outcries greeted the arraignment of the minors with the sight of some of them looking haggard and fainting in court premises, this forced the Tinubu-led government to beat a retreat by discontinuing their trial and moved the suspects back to their various states, notably, Kano.

Recently, telecommunications operators announced a 50% increment on its prices. These costs will be borne by Nigerians who depend on telecoms services for their transactions. The Organised Labour considered the policy as another insensitivity of the Tinubu’s administration to further pile up pressure on the impoverished citizens to weaken their purchasing powers with only government approving N70,000 as minimum wage which applied only to government workers as the private sector is struggling with the burden of operations arising from costs of electricity and taxation.

Among these policies of the government, opposition figures, particularly former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar accused the Tinubu-led administration of destabilising the opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. Although this has been refuted by some political parties, the former vice president who was the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, alleged that Tinubu paid N50 million to each opposition party to cause discord within them with the aim of giving the ruling party an edge in the forthcoming elections.

By leveraging on the economic shortfall and hardship in the country to discredit the administration of President Tinubu, analysts believe that it will serve the opposition best to rethink their strategies of forming another party by coming together under the PDP for a chance defeating a formidable political strategist and politician like Tinubu in 2027.

Immediate-past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, himself a member of the APC, at a forum recently reechoed Atiku’s claim, alleging a plot by the Tinubu government to destroy opposition parties ahead of the 2027 election. Although, el-Rufai has denied any plan to rejoin the PDP where he once served as the FCT Minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, political watchers believe that the seriousness of opposition parties can only be proven if they unite under the PDP.

Floating a new party about two years to the next election when the Tinubu government is consolidating and moving to revive the economy may spell doom for the opposition. The PDP, Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are separately confronted with internal feuds and gathering under one of them, particularly, the PDP today appears to be the slightest hope to offer Nigerians a second alternative to the APC which many have accused of plotting to institute a one-party state.

The outcomes of the 2023 presidential elections saw Tinubu polling 8,794,726 votes to beat Atiku Abubakar with 6,984,520 votes; Peter Obi, 6,101,533 and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s 1,496,687. This is without factoring the disgruntled 5 PDP governors, led by former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike who worked from within his party to scuttle the chances of Atiku over internal party crisis.

Cumulatively, the three presidential candidates who were all former members of the PDP polled a total of 14,582,740 votes in that election against Tinubu’s 8.79 8,794,726 votes. The rest could be imagined if they had gone into that election as a united force against the APC.

Giving Nigerians an alternative platform in 2027 will not just be for regime change, but broadening the political space where people can have rock-hard alternatives to choose from two big major political parties. This will also ensure a strong opposition that can withstand the ruling party with ideas and waiting government to put the ruling party on its feet. If truly concerned about the course of governance, coming under the umbrella of the PDP to orchestrate a reforms and institutional rejig for credible opposition role must occupy the minds of the opposition today than the ambition for positions as they are all waiting losers with continued selfish ambitions and desperations.

This is not new. It is the same card played by the former opposition parties in the era of defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and a section of the Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), all which birthed the APC to take power in 2015.

While the past flaws of the PDP is always played high to discredit it, the party still remains as the top opposition party with national structure only second to the APC with governors in 12 states against APGA, NNPP and Labour Party all having one state each.

Political analysts believe that the APC has lost its propaganda of labelling the PDP with the dark tar after 10 years on the saddle as defectors from the opposition PDP members keep playing strategic roles under Buhari and current administration as its leading lights. From Rotimi Amaechi, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Barr Nyesom Wike all two-term governors of Akwa Ibom and Rivers States under the PDP where they recorded impressive performances.

Opposition parties and their leaders must therefore resist the bait to form a new party ahead of the 2027; this will have obvious consequences to further polarize its ranks through which its votes are further divided to the advantage of the ruling party.

However, for this to scale through, opposition leaders must be prepared to undertake a genuine reforms and engender transparent and genuine communication with Nigerians, sacrifice personal or selfish ambitions and embrace reconciliation and healing to deepen the nation’s democracy.

Notable opposition figures must also prioritise the nation and its welfare and be seen to feel the pulse of the nation by putting their best forward for Nigerians to consider giving the opposition another chance. How this is realised with the ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as Mr Peter Obi and Enginner Kwakwanso whose eyes are on Tinubu’s seat remain a puzzle, even as opposition lose members over internal disputes.

*Usman is a concerned Nigerian, he writes from Abuja.