2027 Poll: Planned Coalition Will Only Give Tinubu Return Ticket, Says Sowore

Amid renewed opposition talks ahead of the 2027 elections, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has warned that current coalition efforts lack vision and ideology — and will only strengthen President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election rather than challenge it.

“It is what they [the coalition] are doing that will make it easy for him [Tinubu] to rerun and return to office. They are preventing the real, organic coalition of the oppressed from emerging. People are getting distracted — Nigerians actually think these guys are fighting for them,” Sowore said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Speaking as a guest on the show on Tuesday, Sowore described the current coalition talks as hollow, lacking ideological substance and purpose.

“I’m not a lone voice — the coalition is what is lonely. That’s why they can’t even hold meetings or find a party to join.

“Now they say they want to register a party — that’s loneliness. Any coalition without ideology is a lonely coalition. There’s no coalition without conviction, character, or integrity,” he said.

 

His comments come amidst growing political realignment as various actors position themselves for the next presidential race.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been championing the opposition front.

He has confirmed holding talks with Labour Party’s Peter Obi and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai — who recently defected from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

However, the coalition efforts appear far from being cohesive. The PDP Governors’ Forum has openly distanced itself from the talks, citing concerns about undermining the party’s internal stability.

Similarly, Obi has made it clear that he will not join any alliance formed solely for seizing power, insisting that any merger must address Nigeria’s deeper governance problems.

El-Rufai’s move to the SDP added to the drama, but the party’s leadership has clarified that no formal alliance currently exists between the SDP and either El-Rufai or Atiku.