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•Lukman: Our coalition is to ensure Tinubu does not return

Chuks Okocha and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido and several influential activists have warned against coercive and arm-twisting defections by politicians, particularly elected public office holders with the mandate of the people and on the platforms of other political parties.

Lamido specifically warned that the destruction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), could spell doom for the nation’s democracy.

Also, a former National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North-west zone, Salihu Lukman, who maintained that the Bola Tinubu administration had disappointed Nigerians, despite the confidence initially reposed in him, has noted that the mission of the proposed coalition was to ensure that Tinubu did not return in 2027.

At the same time, a member of the APC and former staunch supporter of Tinubu, Mr Jesutega Onokpasa, has declared the Nigerian leader a failure, noting that he could end up a one-term president if he continued in the current trajectory.

This was as some civil society activists in Nigeria have expressed worries over what they described as a calculated and systematic effort by the present administration to dismantle democratic foundations and reduce Nigeria to a one-party state.

The civil society activists also lamented that political plularism in Nigeria was gradually being being destroyed through bribery, blackmail and coercion

However, speaking on the state of the nation, Lamido accused President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of misusing state institutions, particularly INEC, the police, and the EFCC, to crush dissent, warning that such a tactic would ultimately backfire in no time.

He also said there was no covenant between Tinubu and God guaranteeing him 2027, adding that power was not inherited, but earned through the people.

Lamido, who stated these shortly after his emergence as a national delegate at the PDP’s Local Government Congress in Birnin Kudu, Jigawa State, stressed that the increasing collapse of opposition structures signaled a dangerous future for democracy in the country.

He said any democracy without a strong opposition was simply a dictatorship in disguise, stating that if other leaders before now, had killed opposition in the country, there wouldn’t have been the present democracy in place.

According to Lamido, “When government machinery is weaponised against rivals, it is no longer politics, it is self-sabotage. Let it be known that no political power is eternal.”

While rejecting calls for a new opposition coalition, Lamido said only the PDP has the experience, structure, and legitimacy needed to lead Nigeria forward.

“Coalitions built on anger and bitterness will collapse. True political strength is organic and PDP remains Nigeria’s most grounded party,” he said.

Lamido warned defectors that aligning with the APC out of fear would end in regret, stressing that history would not be kind to those who abandoned democracy for survival.

“The fear of EFCC is temporary. The judgment of history is forever. Let the people matter,” he concluded.

Lukman: Coalition to Ensure Tinubu Does Not Return in 2027, He Came Unprepared

A former National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North-west zone, Salihu Lukman, has maintained that the Bola Tinubu administration has disappointed Nigerians, despite the confidence initially reposed in him.

Speaking on Arise Television, Lukman pointed out that Tinubu promised to end insecurity as well as corruption, but that today, due to his actions and inactions, he has made ex-President Muhammadu Buhari a national hero.

According to him, the president came unprepared, making him to rule impulsively without first thinking through the import of his decisions.

“There is no need belabouring the issue. The point is that Nigerians are disappointed. APC came with a lot of promise, and being a founding member of APC, I can talk about that very authoritatively.

“We promised Nigerians to end insecurity. We promised Nigerians to end corruption. We promised Nigerians to ensure that, at the minimum, our democracy is functional. Unfortunately, here we are today in a situation where people talk about a one-party state, I think they are being generous.

“The truth is that we don’t even have a political party. APC itself, I don’t regard it, and being there, I can say so authoritatively, any party whose organs are not meeting is not a political party,” he maintained.

Stressing that he hitherto held Tinubu in very high regard, Lukman explained that Tinubu was supposed to correct all the mistakes made by Buhari, but that he has gone on to further compound them.

“He has elevated Buhari to a status of a national hero, likely because he himself almost came unprepared. He is ruling the country almost impulsively, taking decisions without any plan, which is why we have landed in a situation whereby the cost of living and income have been eroded.

“So I think coming back to your question, the whole objective of the coalition, and this is the negotiation going on, to ensure that at the minimum, the mistakes of the first are not only corrected, but we don’t resume politics almost as business as usual. We must present to Nigerians a functional political party, one that can hold elected representatives accountable,” he opined.

According to him, in no time, the whole coalition would be unveiled, and Nigerians would be mobilised to vote for the right candidates since it’s not just northerners that were frustrated with the current government.

Lukman added that if Nigeria was going to find solutions to its current  problems,  there should be no recourse to ethnicity or regional sentiments.

“Our priority is to defeat APC and defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027. But beyond that is to ensure that the functionality of the party is deployed in such a way that the whole challenges facing the country can be negotiated and the solutions to all these challenges can begin to be put in place,” Lukman said.

According to him, the presidency has regressed from the time of Buhari to a situation that it now has a president ruling the country from the ‘remotest part of his bedroom’ and cannot  be accessed.

“For goodness sake, we should have some sense of shame as people who have promised Nigerians and as people who have failed. We have failed Nigerians, and to that extent, therefore, and which is why we are arguing and we are engaging our leaders in negotiating the coalition, and not to sit back and trust leaders.

“We are going to do everything possible to ensure that whatever agreement we have in the new coalition is an agreement that we will use to hold leaders accountable. From the beginning of unveiling the coalition, Nigerians will see that we really mean business,” he stated.

Onokpasa: President Has Failed, May End Up One-term Leader

A member of the APC and former staunch supporter of Tinubu, Mr Jesutega Onokpasa, has declared the Nigerian leader a failure, arguing that he could end up a one-term president if he continues in the current trajectory.

Reminding the president that Nigerians were hungry, Onokpasa maintained that it was inappropriate to begin to discuss 2027 when the president should concentrate on how to reduce the prices of essential commodities like food.

“Which done deal (are you talking about) when the people are hungry? Is it that easy for it to be a done deal? Let’s feed our citizens. Let’s govern well. It’s not a question of people defecting to our party.

“It’s a question of us ruling well. And in that angle, we have failed woefully. President Bola Tinubu has failed woefully to rule well, to provide food for Nigerians, to give them succor in these hard times,” he said, while fielding questions on Arise Television.

Stressing that he didn’t plan to leave the APC despite criticising the party, Onokpasa, a lawyer, posited that despite promising to make food cheap, prices continue to rise in the market.

“It does not make any sense to me. It does not at all. I think President Tinubu should concentrate more on bringing down prices of goods and services.

“He should strengthen democratic values, because this idea of people coming to our party, that’s not what is going to make us win the election in 2027.

“At the rate we are going, all these things will not help us in 2027. If we are not careful, Bola Tinubu will end up as a one-term president. Quote me anywhere,” he stressed, insisting that nobody would pretend that people were not finding it difficult to make ends meet in Nigeria today.

Promising to work against Tinubu’s reelection, Onokpasa maintained that the president should not go close to the State House in 2027.

“We don’t want him anywhere near Aso Rock in 2027. He has done his bit. He has tormented and tortured Nigerians enough. We don’t want him near the seat of power.

“We will ensure that Bola Tinubu does not come for a second term, because that will be great torment and torture for Nigerians,” the APC chieftain opined.

Onokpasa said although he’s not a poor man, Tinubu has used and dumped those who worked for him to get to power, and is empowering other people who never belonged to the party or campaigned for him.

“We will get him out of that power. He’s a one-term president, I assure you,” he stated, recalling that the split votes between Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi made Tinubu’s win a possibility in 2023.

According to the lawyer, since 1999, Tinubu has had the lowest margin of votes of all presidents, which he said was less than 40 per cent of the presidential votes.

Odinkalu, Akinnola, Jinadu, Others Say They Must Resist Tinubu’s One-party Move

Some civil society activists in Nigeria have  expressed worries over what they described as a calculated and systematic effort by the present administration to dismantle democratic foundations and reduce Nigeria to a one-party state.

The civil society activists also lamented that political plularism in Nigeria was gradually being being destroyed through bribery, blackmail and coercion

They also blamed the EFCC of playing a master role in this process of destroying the democratic processes by inviting politicians to their office and immediately followed by political capitulation (defections).

The activists, who vowed to resist the move, said a democracy without opposition was not a democracy, and expressed worry over the weaponisation of state institutions for partisan gain, saying it undermined the “integrity of our democracy.”

A statement titled: ‘Defending democracy: A call to resist a one-party state in Nigeria’, was signed by Richard Akinnola, Abdul Mahmud, Dr. Sam Amadi, Auwa Ibrahim Musa (Rasfajani), and Nnimmo Bassey.

Other were Adeola Soetan, Uche Onyeagucha, Uzodinma Uwaogbe, Mma Odi, Osa Director, Prof Adele Jinadu, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Abubakar Siddique, Mohammed, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, Tola Adeniyi, Dr Jibrin Ibrahim and Olufemi Adegbulugbe.

The statement read: “Fellow Nigerians, friends of democracy, we, the undersigned democrats, raise our voices in alarm and solidarity at this critical hour in the life of our nation.

“Nigeria’s democracy — hard-won through decades of struggle, sacrifice, and steadfast resistance against authoritarian rule — is under grave threat.

“We are witnessing, with increasing dismay, a calculated and systematic effort by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to dismantle the democratic foundations of our republic and reduce Nigeria to a one-party state.

“Under this administration, political pluralism is being eroded not by persuasion or performance, but by bribery, blackmail, and coercion.

“Serving and former governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, and key opposition figures are decamping en masse to the ruling party, not out of conviction, but out of fear and pressure.

‘’The pattern is disturbingly clear: an invitation by the EFCC for questioning on financial impropriety is swiftly followed by political capitulation. This weaponization of state institutions for partisan gain corrodes public trust and undermines the integrity of our democracy.

“We must say it clearly: a democracy without opposition is not a democracy. The presence of multiple, vibrant parties is not a luxury—it is the lifeblood of any democratic system. It provides citizens with real choices, ensures accountability, encourages debate, and fosters innovation in governance.

“The drift toward a one-party state is a betrayal of the ideals that many of us—and indeed President Tinubu himself—fought for during the darkest days of military dictatorship.

“It is not what we envisioned when we stood in the streets demanding civil rule. It is not what the Constitution guarantees. And it is not what Nigeria’s future demands.

“The implications of this creeping authoritarianism are dire: We risk returning to a culture of impunity, where the absence of opposition breeds arrogance and unaccountable governance.

“We stifle the political space for young Nigerians to organise, question, and contribute to the national discourse. This must stop.

“We call on Mr President to remember the democratic path that brought him to power, to respect the multi-party architecture of our republic, and to end the persecution and intimidation of opposition leaders.

“The strength of a democracy lies not in the dominance of one party, but in the ability of many to coexist, compete, and cooperate for the good of all.

“We urge the Nigerian people, civil society, the media, and the international community to stand vigilant and speak out. History will not be kind to silence in the face of this unfolding danger.

“We did not fight to end military dictatorship only to enthrone civilian authoritarianism. We must rise now to defend democracy, or risk losing it forever.”