The coalition being formed by a the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi; a former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, and others ahead of the 2027 elections to tackle President Bola Tinubu has decided on the party to use.
According to information available to The Eagle Online, the members of the coalition took the decision at an all night meeting between Tuesday and Wednesday.
The meeting, sources told The Eagle Online, was held in Abuja, starting late on Tuesday.
It ended in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Eagle Online learnt that a former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; a former Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and a former Governor of Osun State and former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, were also at the meeting.
The well attended meeting was said to have agreed that the coalition should use the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the vehicle to unseat President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress in 2027.
On why the coalition settled for the ADC instead of the Social Democratic Party into which some of its prominent members have dissolved, including el-Rufai, a source told The Eagle Online that this was because the rules of the party allowed for easy membership.
Largely considered was said to have been the length of membership for members to be able to stand for elective positions.
The SDP was considered a bit difficult to achieve the plot of the coalition.
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The source told The Eagle Online on Wednesday: “You know virtually all of these people are still in one party or the other.
“And this is less than two years before the 2027 general election.
“So they are being careful so that no legal entanglement will stop those who are eventually going to fly the flag of the coalition.
“All the parameters were considered before settling for ADC.”
On the seeming crisis over the presidential candidate that the coalition would choose, one of the sources at the meeting told The Eagle Online that the issue has not come up at all.
On if Abubakar, a former vice president, would step down for Obi, the source said the stage at which the talks are was for the coalition to be solidified and that those who now have interest in seeking elective offices would go through the process.
The source revealed that the focus of the coalition goes beyond the struggle for power.
The source said: “Whether Atiku or Peter Obi or el-Rufai, none of them is talking about who the president or vice president will be.
“Their singular focus is to get the APC and Tinubu out of power.
“When the time comes, they all will go through the process put in place by the ADC for the 2027 elections.
“It is not by fiat.
“What people are saying is far from the truth.
“The truth is that no decision has been taken and no candidate can force himself on the coalition as presidential candidate.
“So also has the talk about sharing political offices never come up at any of the meetings of the coalition.
“It is the people out there doing their permutation alongside the individuals within the coalition.
“The talks are ongoing.”
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