Kehinde Fajobi
Salihu Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman (Northwest) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has written to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, urging him to rally Nigeria’s past leaders to unite the opposition and form a new political party capable of challenging the APC and President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
Reacting to Obasanjo’s recent remarks about “Satanic leaders,” Lukman called for action to address the country’s leadership challenges.
“It is not enough to lament about the fact of Satanic leadership in the country. Leaders such as Your Excellency, together with Gen. Gowon, Gen. Babangida, Gen. Abdulsalami, former President Jonathan, and former President Buhari, have the huge moral obligation of engaging all opposition political leaders in the country to unite,” he stated in his letter.
He stressed the need to build a “functional political party” that could serve as a platform for what he termed “Godly leaders” to emerge.
Lukman criticised the current state of politics, saying it has been reduced to “an assemblage of cheerleaders,” with impunity driving the system.
He warned that without proper opposition unity, new parties might simply replicate the APC and PDP, leading to a continuation of “Satanic logic” in leadership.
He accused some opposition figures of prioritising personal ambitions over national progress, noting that some are already organising fragmented leadership structures and forming regional groups that may only perpetuate existing challenges.
“The old card of imposition and potential strategy to rig 2027 is already rearing its ugly head,” Lukman alleged, adding that such divisions would only benefit the APC.
He revealed that the APC’s victory in the 2023 elections was partly due to the opposition’s disunity.
“I can say authoritatively that the current mindset of President Tinubu and APC is to keep the opposition divided as basis for winning the 2027 elections,” he asserted.
In his concluding remarks, Lukman emphasised the urgency of unity among opposition leaders, cautioning that failure to collaborate would inadvertently strengthen Tinubu’s re-election prospects.
He urged Obasanjo and other former leaders to intervene decisively.
“The process of producing a functional political party to serve as the harbinger for the emergence of leaders with Godly genotype is possible, but it requires humility and collective effort from all opposition leaders,” he said.