Opposition Summit: We’ll Support Any Presidential Candidate Who Emerges — Donald Duke

Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has pledged to support any opposition presidential candidate that emerges from ongoing efforts to unite opposition parties 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 governor said he would remain committed to the opposition unity process regardless of the outcome of negotiations among the participating political 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, organised by the G100 in collaboration with the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives, brought together leaders and candidates of six opposition parties.

The participating parties include the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

In his opening remarks delivered on behalf of the G100, Mallam Salihu Moh. Lukman said opposition parties must overcome the divisions that contributed to their defeat in the 2023 presidential election if they hope to effectively challenge the ruling party in 2027.

Lukman noted that opposition parties collectively secured about 13 million votes in the 2023 presidential election, compared with less than nine million votes secured by the eventual winner.

He, however, said the opposition lost because its votes were divided among several presidential candidates.

“Nobody stole thirteen million votes. We divided them ourselves, in public, and we did it knowing exactly what the consequence would be,” Lukman said.

He cited the opposition alliance that preceded the 2015 general elections as an example of how political parties could negotiate their differences and agree on a common candidate.

According to him, the major lesson from the 2015 experience was that opposition parties must first agree on the rules of engagement before negotiating positions.

“What they had was not affection. What they had was sequence. They agreed on the rules before they knew the outcome,” he said.

Lukman said consultations conducted by the G100 with the six opposition parties showed that their leaders understood the consequences of political division but lacked a common platform for negotiating their interests.

“What has been missing is not analysis. It is a table,” he added.

He clarified that the summit was not asking any political party to dissolve or merge with another party, nor was it demanding that any presidential candidate withdraw from the 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,” Lukman said.

Rather, he explained that the G100 was seeking the authorisation of the participating parties to establish a framework through which their interests could be negotiated and a common platform developed.

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 tasked with developing 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 are expected to complete their reports within four weeks, after which they will be presented 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.

However, the G100 facilitator warned that the success of the proposed opposition coalition would depend on the willingness of political leaders to make compromises and accept outcomes that may not align with their individual political 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 of the initiative was to provide Nigerians with a credible alternative government ahead of the 2027 elections.

“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.”