Former Kano state Governor Ibrahim Shekarau has described the coming together of top opposition figures as a coalition of prospective aspirants who can’t unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
In a statement signed by his spokesperson Sule Ya’u Sule, Shekarau said it is unfortunately that most people do not know that the claimed coalition move has nothing to do with the major opposition parties like PDP and LP.
“It is so far a mere coalition of prospective Presidential/Vice Presidential aspirants. None of the principal actors is carrying the leadership of his party along. More so, the ‘gang-up’ of individuals, no matter their ‘big names’, can never be a ‘merger’, because, by law, only registered parties can formally and officially merge,” said Shekarau.
He explained that the first political merger in Nigeria was in 2013, when four registered parties, namely, ANPP, ACN, CPC and APGA melted together to form the APC.
“You see, APC was an assortment of registered opposition political parties that were already fully on ground, with elected state governors, state and National Assembly members and local governments, as well as large grassroot followers. These were the factors that even attracted some of the then PDP Governors and legislators to also ran to join the APC. It is therefore wrong for anyone to assume that the 2013 merger that produced a strong opposition in APC is comparable to today’s ‘coalition’ of ‘aspirants’,” insisted Shekarau.
While reacting to River’s issue, Shekarau said what happened at the National Assembly on March 20, 2025, in respect of the ‘State of Emergency’ in Rivers State, has exposed the characters in the ‘coalition’, he added that the coalition had no control over the opposition parties in the National Assembly.
Shekarau reaffirmed that no amount of noise making, or coming together, by individual characters (aspirants) in the name of opposition will make any impact at elections, until and unless the full structure of leadership at all levels of the opposition parties are carried along.
He concluded that it is still not too late, as he believe with the ‘correct’ vision, mission and focus, plus genuine sense of righteousness, the narrative in the opposition parties can be changed within this year, 2025 for success in the 2027 elections.
Ibrahim Musa Giginyu
