A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governorship candidate in Lagos State, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, has expressed his views on the formation of a coalition of opposition political parties aimed at ousting the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the 2027 elections.
He described this initiative as noble, given the ruling party’s poor performance in government. However, he quickly added that the move is impractical, non-strategic, and a “wild goose chase.”
Pearse, who is also the Convener of Reset Lagos PDP and a member of the PDP National Presidential Campaign Council for 2023, shared his thoughts during an interview with our correspondent.
He pointed out that Nigeria’s political history has many examples of failed political alliances from 1960 to the present, suggesting that the proposed coalition for the 2027 polls is unlikely to succeed.
He cited the 1960 alliance between then-Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa’s Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and then-President Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) as an example.
This alliance collapsed within two years, leading to another failed coalition between the NPC and the breakaway faction of the Action Group (AG), known as the Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP).
Pearse noted that this artificial alliance contributed to civil unrest in the Western Region and ultimately to the military coup in January 1966, followed by the Nigeria-Biafra war.
This was just as he quickly recalled that the same move to unseat the ruling APC made by Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in 2016 ahead of 2019 General Elections all failed due to in-fighting, bitter rivalries, with “no identifiable leader, noting sadly that the development “contributed to Buhari’s/APC’S reelection by taking away about 10% of the votes; enough votes for PDP to have defeated APC.”
On the structure of the proposed coalition, Dr. Pearse said it was uncertain who would join the platform if it were to be led by the SDP, going by the attendance recorded at its most recent press conference, held in Abuja, with only former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of PDP and former Governor Nasir El Rufai as only key players featuring; “no Obi , no Kwakwanso and no Fayemi.”
“Additionally some SDP leaders refuted the suggestion that SDP will merge with anyone. If this group depends primarily on some members of Buhari’s CPC, and the few that Atiku can convince to leave PDP, it will end up as a small Northern Nigeria Political Party.
“It will exacerbate the country’s North and South division, and as CUPP did in 2019, it will take away votes from PDP and inadvertently help APC to win the Presidential Election of 2027,” he warned.
Speaking further, the former governorship candidate posited that the MEGA party formation as proposed by Alhaji Atiku in 2024, would entail the coming together of the major political parties, including PDP, Labour, and NNPP, saying that such was most ambitious and most unrealistic.
According to him, it is so because none of the leaders of these major parties could bring their party into the alliance, least of all, Atiku who he said already saw himself as the presidential candidate of the imagined MEGA party, just as he affirmed that the proposed coalition cannot work like it did for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) because of some certain reasons.
“Proponents of a coalition of political parties would often site the example of the 2013 joint venture between Tinubu’s ACN and Buhari’s CPC. They would argue that PDP should integrate its structures with those of Labour Party to form one big party to defeat the current APC government. This coalition has proved elusive so far for many good reasons.
“The CPC/ACN worked out because both parties needed each other. CPC had votes from the North West and North East mainly, while ACN’s support was virtually limited to South West. For either one to have a national spread, they needed to come together. This is not the case with the Labour Party, or the PDP. In the 2023 Presidential Election especially, both Obi of Labour Party and Atiku of the PDP won elections across the geopolitical zones,” he stated.
On the way forward, Pearse cautioned Nigerians “not be too quick to embrace quantity over quality” in their eagerness to displace the failed APC administration, citing a Yoruba adage which says: “Too many cooks spoil the broth.”
Pearse, while noting that had Obi not introduced the Labour Party as a third force in the 2023 poll, and the context was between Atiku’s PDP and Tinubu’s APC, Atiku’s votes would have doubled that of Tinubu, insisting that the way to defeat the ruling APC government in 2027 “is not by diluting PDP with a new identity, but by reinforcement of what it has had for over 25 years.”
“Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) entry into the competition will take away some northern votes from APC. Under these circumstances, Tinubu has already lost the 2027 Presidential Election. What is left is for the PDP to consolidate itself by reaching out to its traditional base in the South East Geopolitical Zone and it’s support base amongst the Christian Communities of the North.
“The Peoples Democratic Party has 12 Governors, 38% of the Senate, 43% of the House of Representatives, and House of Assembly members as well as Local Government Chairmen across the length and breath of Nigeria. No other party comes close. PDP is the only opposition party in Nigeria,” he said.
“In conclusion, all Nigerians who wish to save the country from APC’S apocalyptic administration should lend support to PDP in order to dislodge Tinubu in 2027. They should not allow themselves to be distracted.
Lending support to some fictitious coalition will only help APC to remain in power. The hew and cry about coalition forces is a ploy by APC to divert attention from PDP, its real rival.And ask yourself this pertinent question; If APC is not afraid of PDP, why has it spent all its energy trying to destabilize PDP from within.
“If it gets the support of the people, the Peoples Democratic Party will improve the quality of life for all Nigerians in a united country come 2027!” he concluded.
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