Former governor of Kano state, Ibrahim Shekarau, has stated that only a coalition of political parties can unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Speaking to journalists, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain urged opposition parties to work together to strengthen the political platform needed to achieve that goal.
He said: “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.”
Shekarau recalled his role in coalition talks in 2011 aimed at defeating then-president Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) attempted to form an alliance at the time, with parties bringing elected governments, legislators, and strong grassroots networks to the table.
His words: “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 said lessons from the 2011 failure paved the way for the successful merger of the CPC, ACN, and ANPP in 2015.
According to him, the difference was that party leaders negotiated as representatives of their parties rather than individual aspirants.
“This time, we pursued the process not as individual candidates or aspirants, 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 added.