A member of the G100 Group and a former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Sergius Ogun, has said opposition leaders, at the G100 Opposition Summit in Abuja held on Monday, have resolved to work together towards a unified ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking in an interview on ARISE NEWS on Monday, Ogun stressed that the opposition political parties must be willing to make concessions, sacrifices and embrace give-and-take to achieve a successful coalition capable of challenging the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.
“We have resolved, as stated in the communique, to work together, perhaps to have a unified ticket, and to set up workgroups. We are very positive that something good will come out of this.
“We know there are going to be concessions, we know there is going to be sacrifice, and there is going to be give-and-take. They have all agreed on that. The fact that they came today to attend and signed that communique speaks volumes.”
Ogun explained that the G100 would serve as the “midwife” of the process, while the participating political parties would take ownership of the coalition and determine its direction. He said the decision to establish workgroups was intended to ensure that the resolutions reached at the summit would not suffer the same fate as previous opposition initiatives that failed to progress beyond initial discussions.
“The G100 will just be the midwife, but the political parties will basically run the show. So we are just there to midwife what they will be doing, but the political parties will basically run the show.
“Look at 2023: if you add the numbers of the opposition together—we all do that arithmetic—clearly, APC would have been second, but we missed that opportunity. We don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
Addressing the absence of some major opposition presidential candidates, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, Ogun said their absence did not pose a problem, disclosing that they sent representatives who attended the summit and signed the communique.
He added that the leaders had previously been consulted and were in agreement with the coalition process, while representatives of the affected parties were present at the meeting.
“That is not a problem at all. They sent representatives, and they signed the communique. We have met with them before, like I said, and they are in agreement. They know the battle that is ahead, and they are in agreement. The APM presidential candidate is not in the country, and the ADC received their governorship candidates today—they had a meeting—but his party leaders and other representatives were there. For the NDC, the National Chairman was there. This is the first summit.
“We are going to have another one, maybe in another one month or six weeks from now,” Honourable Ogun added.
Ogun expressed confidence that the opposition has the capacity to defeat the ruling party in the 2027 elections, insisting that any of the opposition parties can unseat the current government.
“Absolutely. The truth is, any political party right now can take out this government—any one of them.”
Sharing his assessment of the opposition’s prospects, Ogun said the overriding objective of the G100 is to secure a unified ticket to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling APC in the 2027 elections.
He maintained that the opposition was already working to achieve its objectives, arguing that it did not need to adopt the confrontational approach he associated with the ruling party to effectively play its role.
“It is to get a unified ticket to run against this president—this very unpopular president who has spent the last two months in the Villa without stepping out. When you say the opposition needs to put their house in order, we are doing well, extremely well.
“APC defined opposition in the last few years; we don’t have to be gangsters to be opposition. We have told the public what we will do, and that is what we are going to do.”
On the question of whether any candidate would be asked to step down, Ogun said the participating political parties would determine the process themselves by agreeing on rules for selecting a unified ticket. He stressed that no candidate was being compelled to withdraw, expressing confidence that the parties would ultimately reach an agreement on the candidate to face the APC in 2027.
“They would agree among themselves. The six political parties—we got them into the room today, and they are talking. They are going to set up rules to talk among themselves. So at the end of the day, they will choose that unified ticket that will run against the APC. No one is asking anybody to step down; they will make that decision themselves.”
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