2027: Opposition not engaging meaningfully –Group

•As Kwankwaso, Aregbesola meet in Lagos

From Jude Chinedu, Enugu and Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

A political pressure group, The Alternative, has stated that opposition politicians are not doing enough to mobilise citizens, educate voters, and challenge electoral irregularities ahead of the 2027 general elections.

It questioned their ability to strengthen democracy beyond contesting elections.

Opposition politicians have been holding strategic meetings across the country. They are believed to be working towards stopping President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

But speaking at a town hall meeting in Enugu, the group’s convener, Segun Showunmi, criticised the opposition for failing to engage meaningfully with electoral and governance challenges, adding that forming new political parties would not automatically address the deeper problems within the electoral process

“We have looked at the political parties and the way they are behaving. Everyone in the country is rumouring that it is only the ruling party that is prepared and ready. We cannot accept the idea that people will be looking for another platform only for the purpose of the contest.

“So, we felt to start this movement with the view of ensuring that the ills that affect the process can be discussed. For instance, even if you registered a new political party, how will that prevent vote buying and selling unless we advocate about it?

“We have 18 political parties already. Even if we register another one and people don’t turn up, and you are barely able to get 25 million people turning up and you install a president with 8 million votes, what will the new party do?”

“When you say that the people are not turning up, you have to go and beg them. We don’t need to be fighting ourselves in tribal direction. We can be one in this country, and whatever thing we have not been able to resolve today, we should be hopeful that we will resolve it tomorrow.”

He criticised the opposition for not doing enough to mobilise citizens, educate voters, and challenge electoral irregularities.

“I have taken up to reach the people what an opposition movement should look like. Opposition movement should be able to speak to the challenges of the process. Is it the federal government that tells people not to turn up during elections? Is it the federal government that says people should be buying and selling their votes? The answer is no.”

Showunmi also urged opposition parties to shift from ethnic and sectional politics to a more inclusive approach that unites Nigerians under a common goal.

Meanwhile, national leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on Saturday met with former governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

The meeting, it was gathered, was not unconnected with plans for the 2027 general elections.

The two political leaders met at the Lagos residence of Aregbesola where issues relating to the 2027 presidential race and other sundry political issues were reportedly discussed. It was gathered that issues relating to the next political dispensation took the centre stage at the meeting.

Details of the meeting were not made known but political observers believed the two gladiators met to discuss national issues, especially those bordering on the next general elections.

Aregbesola recently pulled out of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a platform under which he became governor for two terms in Osun State.

Since he announced his exit, many political parties including the NNPP have been making frantic efforts to drag him to their parties.

Commenting on the development, Osun State chairman of the NNPP, Dr. Tosin Odeyemi, said the meeting reflected a shared commitment to strengthening democratic institutions and fostering national development.

He noted that the only third force in Nigeria political landscape is the NNPP and the party leadership will leave no stone unturned at making Nigeria great again.