By Our Correspondent
As the politics of 2027 heat up, the opposition has intensified its plot against the Bola Tinubu administration, determined that the President would not be allowed to have a second term.
The political ‘gang up’ against the Tinubu government is mainly spread across the North-West and North-East, key voting blocs, and led by ‘angry and disgruntled’ lawmakers and a couple of governors who have been recruited “to pursue a Northern agenda.”
A credible source told THISNIGERIA.
“They are selling the argument that Tinubu’s administration has been anti-North and Yorubanised. Even though they don’t care about the North, and they are fighting personal agenda, they are spreading anti-Tinubu sentiments by showing data and records that the present government, in two years, has obliterated the ‘northernisation of appointments and largesse’ (of the Buhari administration.) But the truth is that they are unhappy that they have been excluded from the dining table.”
Prominent Buhari loyalists in the All Progressives Congress are also involved in the 2027 plot against the Tinubu administration, working day and night, round the clock, to ease out the government at the polls.
Like other opposition groups, personal disagreement and disaffection have led them to form a ‘coalition’ to fight their erstwhile comrades by teaming up with the opposition.
While some vocal, ‘unhappy ‘ persons like Mallam Nasir el-Rufai have since left the party to the Social Democratic Party, some other Buhari loyalists who thought there would be a future for them in Tinubu’s government are lurking in the corners, waiting for the right moment to strike.
*Plan to empty into opposition parties
THISNIGERIA investigations reveal that before mid-2026, some still in the APC will exit the party and join forces in a new political platform, which will be decided and agreed upon.
Others will move into the Labour Party, while those in the PDP will fuse into the SDP, seeing that “PDP is almost now a carcass, weakened by intractable, internal strife.”
Opposition parties led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai only recently led their team on what they called a “sallah visit” to former President Muhammadu Buhari in his Kaduna residence.
Even though they claimed it was not a political visit and discussions on a possible exit from the APC were not on the agenda, credible sources told THISNIGERIA that “politics was their main reason for the Kaduna pilgrimage.
They were there to brief Buhari on their plans to work against their former party and Tinubu.
They didn’t mince words in their close-door interaction.
The joint visit by PDP leaders and former members of the APC was to convince the ex-leader that they could pull the ‘coup’ against Tinubu through.
On where Buhari stands following the meeting with the opposition group, our source said, “He was noncommittal. You know his nature. He told them to do what is right for the country, not selfish or personal agenda.
“He has a personal relationship with Asiwaju Tinubu. He may not have supported him in his bid to succeed him (Buhari), but he appreciates the considerable assistance he gave him to be President, having failed three times.
“He won’t want to be seen as an ingrate by openly supporting opposition against him. He is with the President today, but this is politics, a game of interest.”
Another source said that Buhari is not a man who will fight a man who stood for him
“No, forget it. Buhari is too smart to support a group that will go nowhere. Do they have what it takes to win an incumbent like Tinubu in 2027?”
How far can the opposition go to wrest power at the centre?
A political analyst, Jide Adeniyi, believes it will be an uphill task.
“Look, how can a fragmented opposition hope to defeat a War-tested political stalwart in the mould of a Tinubu? If they are serious, the first step is to forget their egos and ambitions and build a broad-based coalition.
“They must present credible alternative programmes for the people. How do they want to get the people out of the woods? Nigerians are facing distress economically; hunger is in the land, there are social tensions and insecurity, which has receded, is coming up again.
“If the people don’t see a clear pathway out of the current ills, many will rather stay with the devil they know rather than face a new experiment with those who may be fighting for their stomach infrastructure.”
*Their game plan dead on arrival, says Ganduje, APC national chairman
The ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC, national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, also dismisses the plot by the opposition coalition as a storm in a teacup.
Shortly after also visiting Buhari, he said the opposition leaders’ visit and their plot to frustrate Tinubu’s second-term ambition would fail.
“They are incompatible quantities. They won’t be able to achieve anything,” he said
