Salihu Lukman, former Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum, has said that a framework is being put in place to guaranty the opposition fields one candidate to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2027 elections.
He enjoined opposition parties to understand that they are not at war with each other but with the APC and its Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
In an interview with Arise News, Lukman, who was once a top official in the APC, said a proposal had been made for the consideration of opposition leaders.
The idea, he said, was to put in place a framework that would enable them to function as a cohesive unit so that they could form a united front to the Nigerian electorate by the time of the 2027 elections.
“The end goal is that we want to have one candidate, but it can’t be by proclamation,” he said. They have to sit down and agree on what criteria they are applying to that candidate. They will make up their minds.
Nobody is going to tell them. That is why if you ask the supporters of each of the candidates the question again, you are not being fair to the candidates because at the end of the day it is the quality of the relationship.
Let me remind you of the question we have asked them, for emphasis. We have asked them the question, At the end of the day, there should be only one president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The question they have to ask themselves is, Do they want to be candidates only or do they want to win the election to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
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I mean, to answer that question, they will have to agree there are certain conditions that they must fulfilll for them to be able to win the election. That is the point we are trying to get them to understand now and they all understand it.
“They have to work together and the major opponent is APC and President Bola Tinubu. “So when you now begin to ask the question as if the main opponent is either former Vise President Atiku Abubakar or former Governor Peter Obi, you got it wrong.
“We are putting a structure forward and we are putting a proposal to them to consider that will lead to the formation of that structure that will enable them to work as a united body, on the basis of which, by the 2027 election, they will present Nigerians with a united front.
Look, bottom line and I want to say this for emphasis, we believe Nigerians deserve better.
We believe that the 2027 election should provide a credible alternative to Nigeria such that Nigerians can have confidence to queue behind that candidate, vote for that candidate and vote out the APC and President Bola Tinubu. ‘I think there is no argument about that.’
