Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal says opposition forces will soon unveil their coalition platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
Lawal, who spoke in an Arise TV interview, ruled out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a viable option.
He explained the methodical approach being taken to build a formidable opposition alliance.
“We have a technical committee of experts and experienced experts who analyze all the possible political parties we could adapt and move into and strengthen it and upgrade it and make it more suitable for competitive coalition.”
He, however, noted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s active participation in the process.
“And that’s our main goal, and Atiku has presented himself at all such meetings, and my reading of him is that he’s committed to this course; in fact, he’s one of the most committed towards this course; this I can tell you about that.”
The former SGF explained that the coalition’s current focus prioritizes bringing together influential political figures rather than beginning with party selection.
“Now, as to the coalition itself, it is mostly driven by prominent politicians who agree to come together to form this coalition. It is not focused on which political party should form the merger.”
He outlined two strategic paths under consideration: “First, our options are this: do we get another party that we could move into, modify it, upgrade it, and strengthen it for elections, or do we register a new political party? We have technical committees of experts looking into both of these.”
He assured Nigerians that the lengthy deliberation process is nearing completion: “And I assure you, we are getting to the end of the process; we’ll soon announce a party that we will move into or maybe register a new party. We are getting to the end of that.
“Nigerians are anxious about this; every time we go out, people ask, ‘What of the platform, what of the platform?’ Since we are here to serve the people, we are speeding up the process to reduce the tension among our supporters.”
In a pointed rebuke of Nigeria’s former ruling party, he emphatically dismissed the PDP as a potential coalition vehicle.
“But I can tell you, in all the analysis I’ve seen so far, nobody has ever bothered about let’s adopt PDP as the platform. We all agree that PDP has an incurable virus; no antibiotic can cure what’s ailing PDP, and we don’t want to go into a house that we cannot modify, that is not willing to change. So, PDP is not in that list.”
