Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has pledged to support any opposition candidate that emerges from the ongoing efforts to forge a common platform ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Duke made the commitment on Monday at the G-100 Summit of Nigeria’s Opposition Political Parties held at the Shehu in Abuja.
The former Cross River State governor said he would remain committed to the opposition unity process regardless of the outcome of negotiations among the participating parties.
“We will support any political party that emerges in 2027. Whatever decision is arrived at today, I will not walk away but will strive all along because that’s what the people want to see,” Duke said.
The summit, convened by the G100 in collaboration with the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives, brought together leaders and candidates of six opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and SDP.
In his opening remarks, delivered on behalf of the G100, Mallam Salihu Moh. Lukman said the opposition could only challenge the ruling party effectively in 2027 if it overcame the divisions that contributed to its defeat in the 2023 presidential election.
Lukman said opposition parties collectively secured about 13 million votes in 2023, compared with the winner’s less than nine million votes, but lost because their votes were divided among different candidates.
“Nobody stole thirteen million votes. We divided them ourselves, in public, and we did it knowing exactly what the consequence would be,” he said.
He recalled the opposition alliance that preceded the 2015 election, when opposition parties negotiated the terms for cooperation and agreed on a process for producing a common candidate before determining who would occupy the ticket.
According to him, the lesson from the 2015 experience was that opposition parties needed to agree on the rules before negotiating positions.
“What they had was not affection. What they had was sequence. They agreed on the rules before they knew the outcome,” Lukman said.
He said the G100’s consultations with the six parties showed that their leaders understood the consequences of division but lacked a common platform for negotiating their interests.
“What has been missing is not analysis. It is a table,” he said.
Lukman clarified that the summit was not seeking the dissolution of any political party or asking any candidate to withdraw from the presidential race immediately.
“It is not asking any party to dissolve. It is not asking any party to disappear into another party. It is not asking any candidate to stand down this morning,” he said.
Instead, he said the G100 was asking the parties to authorise a process for building a framework through which their interests could be negotiated.
The proposed framework includes three standing coalition structures — a Central Leadership Committee, Publicity and Communication Committee, and Legal Committee.
The G100 also proposed five working groups to develop documents covering democratic renewal, a proposed four-year transition, a national reform programme, opposition unity and a roadmap for producing a common presidential candidate.
Lukman said the working groups were expected to complete their papers within four weeks for consideration at a second summit.
He said the proposed coalition would seek to establish a “Government of National Competence” and implement a four-year National Reset Programme, backed by an enforceable Transition Charter.
The G100 facilitator warned that the success of the proposed opposition coalition would depend on the willingness of political leaders to make concessions and accept outcomes that might not favour their individual ambitions.
“There is no version of this that costs nobody anything. Someone in this hall will have to accept an outcome he/she did not want. That is what unity is. It is not a communiqué. It is somebody’s disappointment, borne well,” he said.
Lukman said the ultimate objective was to give Nigerians a credible alternative government in 2027.
“Our only interest is the one stated in the Doctrine we published on August 2: that a democracy is sustained not merely by holding elections, but by the credible possibility of an alternative government,” he said.
“Today, that possibility is in this room. It is in nobody else’s hands.”
Opposition Summit: We’ll Support Any Candidate Who Emerges – Donald Duke
