Former Kano State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Ibrahim Shekarau, has stated that only a coalition formed by political parties, not individuals, can unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.

Naijaonpoint reports that Shekarau urged opposition parties to come together and strengthen an existing political platform if they hope to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Speaking to journalists, the former lawmaker clarified his earlier comments, saying they had been misinterpreted.

“For the sake of clarity, I did not say the coalition could not defeat Tinubu in 2027. What I said was that a coalition of ‘individuals’ rather than parties could not,” he stated.

To drive home his point, Shekarau cited the 2011 attempt by the now-defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to form a coalition against then-President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said, “I was a principal actor in the 2011 attempted coalition, being a Presidential candidate of the ANPP then. We had several meetings at President Tinubu’s residence in Abuja in 2011.

“At a point, (late former President Muhammadu) Buhari, (Nuhu) Ribadu and I, as the Presidential candidates of CPC, ACN and ANPP respectively, met at Buhari’s residence in Abuja to further discuss the coalition. But it did not work. So, each of us went into the election separately under our respective parties.”

Shekarau explained that the failure of the 2011 talks taught valuable lessons to both individuals and parties.

According to Shekarau, the successful 2015 APC merger was the result of parties negotiating as organised structures, not as individuals seeking personal political positions.

“This time, however, we employed a different approach. We pursued the process, not as individual candidates/aspirants or those who wanted to become this or that, but as representatives of our respective parties.

“The three parties each set up a 21-member committee, and I had the privilege of leading the ANPP committee,” he noted.