An ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, says the anti-Tinubu coalition won’t be affected even if all governors join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Babachir stated this in reaction to the endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for a second term by some governors.
Recall that some days ago, all 22 APC governors publicly endorsed President Tinubu as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The former SGF, a prominent figure in the opposition coalition aiming to unseat the APC, downplayed the significance of the endorsement, describing the move as immaterial.
The coalition, according to him, is targeting voters, not political officeholders.
“Let the governors continue to defect, we don’t care. If we wake up one morning and hear that all the 36 state governors and the FCT are in APC, we don’t care.
“It is immaterial. They have only 37 votes; maybe we can add their families. Maybe you get 1000 votes. The voter is what we are targeting, and the voter is the victim of the system we are against,” he said.
According to him, the coalition is keen on its chances of upsetting the APC in 2027 and will soon announce its plans.
The coalition, which is led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, was formally announced on March 20.
However, a decision on which political platform to adopt had been delayed by several rounds of talks, initially with the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
The SDP had appeared the frontrunner after El-Rufai defected from the APC, sparking a wave of interest from his supporters and other northern political leaders.