A former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Akin Osuntokun, says if President Bola Tinubu wins re-election in 2027, it will be a sad commentary on Nigeria.
Osuntokun, a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) spoke on the backdrop of a mega coalition of some opposition politicians challenge Tinubu of the All progressives Congress (APC) in the next presidential election, if he decided to contest.
“If Tinubu wins the 2027 presidential election, it will be a sad commentary on Nigeria. It will be a conspicuous indication of the dysfunction of democracy.
“It will be comparable to the last American election in which a conspicuously flawed Trump was shockingly reelected as the president. If he is reelected, it will have nothing to do with his appalling record of office.
“It will be as a result of such extraneous factors as the capacity to rig, to practically purchase the electoral agency in a repeat performance of the Tinubu model; tribalism and the self-destructive tendencies of the opposition such as potentially fielding a Northerner as the presidential candidate.
“This will amount to repetitively doing the wrong thing and expect a different outcome. It will amount to the height of insensitivity and arrogance. It will cast a pall on the capacity of Nigeria to attain national integration anytime soon,” Osuntokun said.
The politician however, urged the opposition political leaders in the mega coalition to present a southern candidate as their flagbearer in 2027.
He advised the coalition leaders, especially those from the north, to shelve their personal ambitions and work for the emergence of a southern candidate ,to ensure the success of the coalition.
“If the party ticket go to a politician from the north, like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, he is going to be running against the principle or the convention that had been adopted since 1999t : the power rotation between the North and South.
“So, he is going to violate that convention,and to that extent, he is going to lose support from the intelligentsia, and it will be very a hard sell,” he said.
Recall that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday, at a meeting of key opposition leaders, announced the formation of a coalition, aimed at unseating Tinubu in 2027.
Atiku made the declaration during a press conference in Abuja, attended by several opposition politicians, including former APC members ,who have since defected.
Among those present at the even were the 2023 Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who was represented by Dr Yunusa Tanko; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai ,among others.
NAN.
