Call For Single Opposition Candidate Too Late – Obono-Obla

Former chairman of Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP) under former President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has said the call for opposition parties to present a single presidential candidate ahead of 2027 is too late.

Obono-Obla noted that while the gesture might be well intentioned, the opposition is presently disorderly, terribly fragmented, disoriented, purposeless and rudderless.

A coalition of 100 prominent Nigerian citizens, operating under the aegis of the G100 and led by Malam Salihu Muhammed Lukman, a leading opposition figure, had issued a passionate open letter to major opposition leaders across the country, urging them to set aside personal political ambitions and unite ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In the 7-page declaration dated August 2, 2026, and titled

“The Doctrine of a Necessary Democratic Opposition,” the group warned that Nigeria’s democracy is gradually decaying due to a fragmented opposition and an increasingly unchecked ruling party.

Obono-Obla in a chat with LEADERSHIP said, “I vehemently disagree with his call for the opposition to unite in August 2026, when the general elections scheduled for January 2027 are barely six months away and campaigns will resume in about the third week of August 2026.

“The truth of the matter is that the opposition in the country is presently disorderly, terribly fragmented, disoriented, purposeless and rudderless. It would not be far-fetched to suggest that, apart from its occasional grandstanding, pontification laced with social media razzmatazz and media banter, the opposition is not truly there. The opposition has completely and totally lost it as far as the 2027 general election is concerned.”

“While Malam Lukman’s intervention is well-intentioned and patriotic, genuine opposition unity cannot be decreed a few months to a major election.”

He said what Nigeria needs is not a hasty, opportunistic alliance for 2027, but a principled, long-term rebuilding of the opposition to offer Nigerians a credible alternative beyond 2027.

He recounted his relationship with the convener of the coalition, adding “I know Malam Salihu Mohammed Lukman very well and I have great respect for his intellectual approach to politics, his principled stance, and his patriotism.”

He continued, “I vividly remember that the last time we met was in the office of the former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, in Jabi, Abuja, when he gifted me a book he had written on the need for the APC to carry out internal reforms to reposition itself and return to the ideals of its founding fathers.

“In 2025, he defected from the APC to the ADC and, just a few weeks ago, he announced that he was leaving the ADC because its leaders in Kaduna State despise him,” he said.