2027: Coalition in Danger, Opposition Parties Battle Internal Crises

The plan by opposition parties to form an alliance or merger towards challenging the ruling All Progressives Congress,(APC) in the 2027 presidential election appears to be in danger.

That is because the three major opposition parties expected to form the coalition- the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP); the Labour Party(LP) and the New Nigerian Peoples Party(NNPP) are now embroiled in one form of crisis or the other.

The crises hover around the control of the party structure, the leadership and those to control party affairs.

Informed sources told this medium, that the crises in the major opposition parties has had an effect on the plan to form a strong bond to fight against the APC in 2027.

One of the leaders of the parties in the last election in 2023, confided in one of our correspondents, that for now, the parties are busy, sorting out their internal issues.

He inferred that, that the three opposition parties are all in crises may not be unconnected with the ruling APC’s quest to ensure that the coalition did not see the light of the day.

He said: “ You know the people in power now used a similar tactics that we are planning now to oust the PDP in 2015. They know what it means for the PDP, LP, NNPP and other parties to come together against them. They’ll be shorthanded. So, what to do? To ensure that all opposition parties are not united within themselves and cannot discuss in unity with others. Currently, what we have in different parties are discordant voices, with different factions saying different things. So, we need harmony within before we venture ahead with the discussions.”

He however added that from now to 2027 was still a long time, where anything could happen before then, insisting: “We remain positive. Things can turn around for us within one year. But we are aware that the APC would fight to ensure that we did not agree on confronting them jointly.”

While the APC has been fingered in the apparent plot to destabilise the opposition political parties in the country, it was alleged that the plot was designed to keep them disorganised, unstable and unable to muster the formidable force they required to challenge the ruling party in the 2027 General Election.

It was gathered that the APC apparatchik, which had applied this method in Lagos State and other states controlled by the party, resolved to deploy the strategy at the national level to ward off any surprises from the opposition camp.

At the moment, virtually all the opposition parties are battling with one internal crisis or the other and there seem to be no end to their troubles. The parties, namely, the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP); Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are in varying degrees of troubles.

In the PDP, a party regarded as the main opposition, an intractable leadership crisis, which effectively weakened it ahead of the 2023 General Election has left the party in tatters after it lost the last election.

The party that once ruled Nigeria for 16 consecutive years has not recovered from its repeated losses at the polls and is currently a shadow of itself. Sunday Telegraph investigations showed that the former National Chairman, Dr Iyorcha Ayu, who dragged the PDP to court after he was duly suspended, is still challenging his ouster in court. In the same vein, the crisis which led to the emergence of the G-5 has not left the party as the ring leader of the revolt against the party, Mr Nyesom Wike, a former Governor of Rivers State, is currently serving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Although Wike’s decision to work against his party in the last general election was clearly an anti-party activity, the leadership of the party has so far been unable to sanction him in any way.
The result is that Wike is standing astride both political parties with divided loyalty.

Just last week, the PDP’s NWC summouned all state chairmen of the party to Abuja and directed them to submit list of those who engaged in anti-party activities in their states during the last election. The NWC also scheduled a National Executive Council(NEC) meeting for April. That would be the first NEC meeting of the party since Mid 2022. The list of those who engaged in anti-party activities has not been submitted, even though many believed that it is an exercise in futility since the key players are strong leaders in their states.

In the Labour Party, the leadership tussle between the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure and the Lamidi Apapa faction has not completely abated even after the ruling of the Court of Appeal.

The latest attack on the soul of the LP came shortly after its National Convention held at Nnewi, Anambra State.

At the said convention, Abure was re- elected as the National Chairman but the victory was short lived as the forces against him showed up almost immediately.

At the last check, the Lamidi Apapa faction of the party and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had jointly rejected the outcome of the convention.

Similarly, the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has rejected the outcome of the convention, on the excuse that it did not monitor the exercise because the LP did not inform it of the change in venue.

The Board of Trustees ( BoT) of the party has reportedly taking over the running of the party. But the NWC of the party insist that the party has not had any Board of Trustees since its inception in 2002.

The case of the NNPP is not different as the party became factionalised shortly after the 2023 General Election. The leadership tussle is between the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Alhaji Abbah Kawu and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Dr. Temitope Aluko. These two factions had taken turns in suspending and expelling each other. At some point, even the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and some of his close allies were sacked from the party.

The factions are doing everything possible to safeguard the interests of the those behind them.

While the faction opposed to Kwankwaso had told the world that the Governor of the Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, was not a member of the NNPP, the Kwankwaso loyalists have accused them of being used by the APC to destabilise the party.

These opposing forces contending for the structure of the party appear as if they were designed to keep the party and its members busy squabbling without a plan for the future. However, the APC has distanced itself from the allegations of decimating other political parties, insisting that it was not responsible for the crisis in those political parties.

National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, who defended the party yesterday, said there was no basis for anybody to say so or believe so since the parties were not decimated.
Morka also argued that the allegations should be tied to names or group.

“I don’t understand. There is no context to your question; who is making the allegation; what is the basis of the allegation: and are the parties mentioned decimated? Morka queried.

New Telegraph