Former National Vice Chairman, North-West, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has said the 2023 presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso; Labour Party, Peter Obi; as well as Nasir El-Rufai and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, must unite to remove President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Lukman lamented that given the advanced stage of ‘state capture’ at the federal level, political leaders like Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, Osinbajo, and others have been operating in isolation from one another.
In a statement he signed, Lukman said Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi, Ibikunle Amosun, El-Rufai, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and others, who are more like political orphans due to their exclusion from President Tinubu’s administration, have been pushed to the peripheral edges of Nigerian politics.
He said: “Political leaders in Nigeria, notably Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and others, must answer the question as to whether they want to allow their narrow political ambitions to continue blocking the path to the democratic development of Nigeria.
“Or, why shouldn’t they aspire to register their names as political leaders who were able to rise to the occasion in Nigeria’s hour of national need by coming together to forge a united political front, which could transform Nigeria’s democracy and reverse the phenomenon of ‘state capture’ that produced ‘small corrupt groups’ of used ‘government officials’ who are appropriating ‘government decision-making to strengthen their own economic positions’?
“Although there are some indicative political activities taking place around some of these political leaders, it has not graduated to the level of commitment to build the kind of strong political parties capable of threatening the APC and President Asiwaju Tinubu, which is needed to guarantee the future of Nigerian democracy.
“What were the failings of the PDP? The failings of the PDP are reflected in the same way today’s challenges are manifesting. If the truth is to be told, whatever were the failings of the PDP in 2015, they were less grievous than what it has become under the APC in 2024.”