Barely one year after the 2023 general elections, the political arena is already saturated with strategic discussions pertaining to the next elections in 2027. With the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) maintaining its stronghold thus far in the political landscape for the last eight years, opposition political parties seem to have begun tactical readjustments aiming to wrestle power convincingly from the present government.
The National Consultative Front (NCFront), promoters of the ‘Third Force Movement’ in Nigeria, disclosed recently that a coalition of opposition platforms had congregated and solidified intentions to create an ultra-political party to challenge the APC at the 2027 polls.
Acting spokesperson of NCFront, Mallam Hamisu San Turaki, affirmed that discussions were still taking place with the aim of drafting methods to better organize and bolster their political forces in order to prevent the nation from falling into the perilous chaos perpetrated by the APC.
“For the avoidance of doubt, leading opposition leaders and parties in Nigeria are at the moment not focused on contesting for political offices in 2027 but presently holding consultations on how to streamline and strengthen their political forces to be able to rescue the country from the dangerous slide into misrule and anarchy foisted by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government as well as its exploitative economic policies which have landed millions of households and citizens in Nigeria into abject poverty and penury, making the renewed hope mantra of the Tinubu government a mere consolidation of the rudderless policies of despair and hopelessness of the Buhari regime,” Turaki declared in a statement.
Watchers of political developments in Nigeria will note that these strategies are not entirely novel or unconventional. Prior to 2015, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) enjoyed complete political dominance, winning every presidential election since the birth of democracy in 1999. It was not until the creation of a mega alliance called the All Progressives Congress (APC) circa 2013 – consisting of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – that the seemingly invincible PDP was finally defeated.
Among other concerns, discussions around Nigeria’s slide into a one-party state due to the PDP’s dominance necessitated the formation of the APC. Furthermore, the four parties which had joined forces to birth the APC declared their commitment to ridding the country of corruption, improving the citizens’ standard of living, and upholding the principles of internal democracy.
A text written by the Chairman of the ACN Merger Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, said, “At no time in our life has radical change become more urgent. And to meet the challenge of that change, we the following progressive political parties, namely, ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC, have resolved to merge forthwith and become the All Progressive Congress and offer to our beleaguered people a recipe for peace and prosperity.
“We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to our people, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth etc, and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among our people.”
Following its registration as a fully fledged political party by INEC, the APC set its sights on the 2015 presidential elections with former President Muhammadu Buhari as the party frontrunner. The APC would go ahead to successfully unseat the PDP, fully cementing its status as a political behemoth. In the build-up to the elections, the party mostly hinged its campaign on the promise of restructuring the country’s political system and promoting true fiscal autonomy. After eight years, there still exists a ton of uncertainty about how exactly the APC government will enact its plans to achieve its objective of true fiscal federalism.
In 2018, Buhari roundly rejected restructuring as his top priority, stating that “when all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure”. Pundits noted that this remark stood in direct contradiction to the APC’s campaign manifesto of 2015 which promised to “implement efficient public financial management strategies and ensure true federalism”.
This sort of inconsistency had led many to suggest that the APC might actually not even have a defined philosophy or ideology. Meanwhile insecurity, low employment rates and depleting value of the nation’s currency continue to hang over the country like a friendly albatross. According to critics, the APC’s rule thus far has been marked by poor economic conditions, leaving many Nigerians grappling with the consequences of stagnant growth and a struggling job market.
The conception of the APC as a party was considered to be an impressive feat for some actors at the time. APC member Baba Madugu alluded to this before the 2015 elections. He had proudly asserted thus: “For the first time in the history of this country, this is the first time we’re having a merger of opposition parties coming together to form a major opposition.”
He further claimed that following the party’s establishment, it had already won support from nearly a third of Nigeria’s powerful governors, from both the mostly Muslim North and the mostly Christian South. History may yet repeat itself in 2027 if the opposition parties are able to solidify their alliance. Nevertheless, amidst the ambitious goal of unseating the APC, questions linger about the philosophical and ideological underpinnings of the proposed mega party.
So far, the only justification for this alliance, as highlighted by NCFront spokesperson Turaki, has been the need to bring an end to the perceived instability and anarchy brought about by the ruling APC ever since its claim to power back in 2015. Thus, while it may seem to be a noble cause on surface level, without any form of clarity regarding the principles that will guide this proposed alliance, it would amount to nothing more than another attempt to poison the well with circumstantial ad hominem.
As disparate opposition factions come together, sceptics have rightly noted that a united front without a clear ideology may face challenges in presenting a coherent vision for the country, potentially dampening public confidence in their ability to govern effectively. The presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has already expressed his interest to participate again in the 2027 elections, and while he has also been clamouring for a super alliance of the opposition parties, he insists that the opposition must unite behind him as a candidate for the best chance to unseat the APC.
Recently, however, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has rejected Atiku as the rallying point for the opposition parties going into the 2027 elections. CUPP’s National Secretary, High Chief Peter Ameh, pointed out that this decision was based on past experiences and uncertainty of Atiku’s political ideology.
“CUPP had worked with Atiku in the past only to realise later that we worked for a candidate who cared for himself, his ambition, and his own ambition only without giving a hoot for other coalition partners. It is also in the public sphere that former Vice President Atiku has severally professed his aversion for multi-party democracy. He is a fan of either one or two party systems only,” Ameh stated.
The CUPP was formed in 2018 following deliberations between the PDP and over 40 other political parties who signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to unseat the then President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government, and Atiku emerged as the agreed candidate for the opposition parties to rally under. Little to no success was realized from that outing in the 2019 general elections. In fact, it could be argued that Peter Obi and the Labour Party achieved higher degrees of success in the 2023 presidential election, mostly garnering the favour of the youths, than the coalition did in 2019. Some observers have remarked that any merger that will not produce an Obi/Kwankwaso ticket, especially following Obi’s establishment as a formidable challenger at the polls, will be a waste of time.
Setting up a merger of opposition parties may not be a guaranteed recipe for success. As political manoeuvring intensifies, the upcoming elections loom large on the horizon. The success of this opposition alliance hinges not only on the ability of the parties to unite against the APC but also on their capacity to articulate a compelling vision for the future. Voters, eager for change, will be closely watching to see if the mega party can offer more than just an alternative to the current ruling party — whether it can present a coherent and transformative agenda.
The evolving narrative in Nigeria’s political landscape underscores the dynamic nature of democracy, where alliances shift and ideologies adapt to the prevailing circumstances. Even as the opposition parties plan to join forces, the nation will be observing as usual, seeking a clear articulation of their agenda, hoping that this potential mega party can provide the catalyst for change that many believe the country desperately needs.
