Six Opposition Parties Are “Consulting” Atiku, Obi and Makinde About Cooperation: Six Parties, Three Big Men, Zero Seats Agreed

Picture a family meeting where everyone agrees the family needs to unite. Everyone is shouting “unity!” Then the only question left is who will sit in the big chair at the head of the table. That is the opposition in Nigeria, and the meeting is already one month old.

Six parties have been consulting Atiku, Peter Obi, Seyi Makinde and other political figures about cooperating ahead of 2027. The parties are ADC, NDC, APM, SDP, PRP and a faction of the PDP. Six! At this rate, you will need a calculator just to count the party logos on the poster.

On 31 August, they held their first summit at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. Beautiful. Serious faces. Big words like “National Covenant for Democratic Renewal” and “Transition Charter”. And, of course, the three men everyone was waiting to see were not in the room. Atiku was absent. Obi was absent. Makinde was absent. You invite the groom, the best man, and the pastor to the wedding rehearsal, and none of them comes.

But there is a plan. Three committees: Central Leadership, Publicity and Communication, and Legal. Then five working groups to write papers within four weeks. Papers! Nigerian politics has more papers than a Lagos exam hall. One of the papers is called “Roadmap to a Common Presidential Candidate”. Common candidate? These men have been uncommon since 2019.

My favourite line was from one speaker, who said nobody stole thirteen million votes in 2023, they divided them themselves in public. My friend, that is the most honest thing anyone has said in politics this year. They actually divided the votes, then complained about the result like a man who cut his own cake into five pieces and asked why he was hungry.

Donald Duke also said that if they think they can go it alone, they will fail. Wise words, and I hope the people who need to hear them were the ones in the room. Because here is how it will go: everyone agrees to cooperate, as long as they are the candidate. Atiku says “unity” in one breath and “experience” in the next. Obi says “consultation among patriots” and keeps the Obidient movement fully on. Makinde says he is for unity, and also for Makinde.

Meanwhile, the ruling party is having a very peaceful week. Why would you fight a divided opposition when they are doing it for you, free of charge, with committees?

The second summit has no date yet. In Nigerian time, that means “after the election, before the next one.”