…Says elections may record high voter apathy
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Salihu Moh Lukman has raised concern that persistent disunity and selfish personal ambitions among key opposition figures will inevitably hand President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) another term in office in 2027.
Lukman also said unless something drastic is done the forthcoming general elections may witness high voter apathy with less than 10 million vote in the presidential election.
According to the former Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) if any opposition candidate surprisingly win in 2027, “there is nothing to give confidence that we can produce a better government.”
In a statement he released Thursday in Abuja, titled “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”, Lukman said for now internal debates and consultations within the opposition towards producing democratic decisions is absent.
According to him, graveyard silence in the midst of high public expectations define activities of the opposition. The question as to whether the country and whatever represents democracy is doomed resonate in the mind of every rational thinking Nigerian.
Lukman highlighted that the failure of top opposition leaders—specifically highlighting former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and Rotimi Amaechi—to subordinate their presidential ambitions to a unified platform poses the single greatest threat to defeating the APC.
“Lack of unity among the opposition was largely responsible for the electoral victory of APC. The same reality is manifesting itself again with the same two leading opposition personalities emerging as candidates against President Tinubu,” Lukman stated.
“If truly their objective is about defeating APC and President Tinubu, why are they unable to recognise that once they are divided, it is as good as conceding electoral victory to APC and President Tinubu?”
He cautioned that voters are becoming deeply cynical as opposition politicians prioritize ticket-chasing over genuine democratic reform, noting that “the difference between them is highly artificial.”
“Outside appearances and the personalities emerging as candidates for the 2027 elections, there is substantially hardly anything distinguishing the actors contesting the elections,” he added.
While Lukman acknowledged the severe socio-economic hardship inflicted by the APC administration—describing the public anger against the government as equivalent to “living in a teargassed environment”—he argued that the opposition’s current posture offers no real solution.
Without a disciplined, united party structure capable of regulating its leaders, he fears an opposition victory would simply swap one set of unaccountable politicians for another.
“With every passing day, combinations of inaction and replication of old approaches is sending worrying signals that the 2027 election is presenting Nigerians with a choice between the devil and deep blue sea,” Lukman warned.
“Without a strong party whose leadership and organs are empowered to regulate the conducts of Alh. Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi, the propensity that they will also disappoint Nigerians on the same scale as APC and President Tinubu, if not worse, are also high.”
The ADC chieftain warned that if opposition leaders continue to race along individual tracks rather than uniting behind a clear agreement, the Nigerian public will lose total confidence in the electoral process.
“Unless something drastic happens, if votes are to count, the 2027 elections may not register total of more than 10 million votes in the Presidential election,” Lukman cautioned, adding that high voter apathy will only leave the field wide open for whoever possesses the “more efficient rigging capacity.”
Lukman urged opposition leaders to return to the drawing board immediately and forge a binding alliance before it is too late. Otherwise, he advised citizens to look beyond the current political class entirely after 2027.
“We need to demand that if the opposition as is currently constituted want citizens to take them seriously, they must go back to the negotiation table and work out an agreement that would enable them to contest the 2027 elections as a united front,” he stressed.
“Alh. Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and all the other opposition leaders must be challenged to prove their patriotic disposition… Once the contest of the 2027 elections is narrowed to prosecuting the personal ambitions of opposition political leaders, Nigerians should not waste their time.”