As political gladiators begin preparation for the 2027 General elections, Nigerians have been mercilessly caught in between.
This confusion streams from the confusion of the leading political figures and parties that might shape the 2027 race. While the People’s Democratic Party remains perpetually in what seems to be unending internal crises, the Labour Party battles with its leadership tussle.
These have kept the followers of the parties divided, while many remain confused and seem uninterested in their affairs due to several court cases and unending bickering among and within the rank and file of each party.
A few months ago, the former Kaduna governor and former minister of FCT, Mallam El-Rufai decamped to the Social Democratic Party SDP from the ruling APC sighting a loss of political ideology.
Nigerians were filled with a hope of change in the landscape of Nigerian politics and political calculations against 2027. El-Rufai boasted that major political heavyweights like the Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi will both join him in a matter of weeks.
Nigerians were filled with high hopes of another major force entering the political arena. But as the noises went on, politicians remained skeptical about joining for fear of losing their base. Some outrightly debunked the news of joining the supposed coalition.
Pundits say the duo of Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar are both not ready to leave their comfort zone for a future in the SDP that might also be an ending political career move.
‘Atiku Abubakar wants to move into the SDP, but he wants to move with his whole machinery and supporters in the PDP including Senators and Governors. But he is not sure that the majority will move with him which may end up sending him into a political oblivion. This is so because most of these governors also want to run. And those that are not running want a better negotiation and secured life after office which Atiku cannot give not promise at the moment’. A political analyst tells Nigerian Reports.
‘Atiku is also desperate to work with Peter Obi. He wants Peter Obi and his loyalist who are also leaving the Labour Party one by one to the ruling party to also move with him into the SDP’. The political analyst continued.
‘But Peter Obi on the other hand is waiting in the wings for Atiku to move into the SDP so that he can decamp into the People Democratic Party to claim the Presidential ticket and pick Governor Bala Muhammed of Bauchi State as running mate in 2027’. This has been concluded and the only thing holding things is for Atiku to move to SDP’.
And as the waiting games between the political gladiators continued, the role of a political platform in the scheme of things was relegated to the background. Top political actors now respond to the government of the day individually and never mention any of their political parties in their speeches and press releases.
The Political Parties are gasping for breath, trying to survive because without the big names, they cannot thrive.
Nigerians will continue to wait, to see what the politicians come up with as they continue to lose their loyalists to the ruling party the APC in both chambers of the National Assembly and outside power.
