The Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), and National Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Yusuf Dantalle, has said opposition parties must look beyond their individual interests and work towards putting national interest above all else ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He made the remarks while reacting to comments by former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, on what he described as the desperation among Nigerian politicians, particularly the tendency for personal interests to take precedence over the broader interest of the country.
“What His Excellency Donald Duke said, I agree with him to some extent, especially about our desperation. This has been my position, and this also takes us to why people seek political office. Is it to serve the people, or for your personal interest?
“What the G100 is saying, we have our individual interests, but Nigeria comes first.
“We have never had it so bad in Nigeria as it is today. And for that reason, we want a situation where a government can be put together in the name of something like having all the parties or the major parties in the race coming together to form a government that will represent these various interests. It’s not just about winner takes all and loser loses all.”
Dantalle also disagreed with the suggestion that there was no opposition in government, pointing to his party’s two governors in Oyo and Bauchi states as evidence of its presence in government.
“First, I disagree with due respect, with the position that when you say there’s no government in the opposition. My party is in opposition. I have two governors—governor of Oyo State and Bauchi State. These are states that you can go and empirically verify what they are doing.”
Speaking in his capacity as National Chairman of IPAC, Dantalle said the council encourages political parties to pursue power while reducing tension in the polity, stressing the need for political actors to operate with decorum and within the confines of the law.
“I am also the National Chairman of IPAC, which is the Inter-Party Advisory Council, and so—and what we try, what we do in IPAC is to see that while we seek power in our individual political parties, we should also try as much as possible to reduce tension in the polity. So that has been the deliberate position of the Inter-Party Advisory Council: seek power, but with decorum, work within the confines of the law.”
Expressing confidence that the opposition coalition would produce a single candidate, the APM national chairman said technical committees would address concerns surrounding the strategy for achieving the objective, adding that the coalition would develop a solution suited to the country’s political situation.
“It will. Yes, it will. At the end of the day, it will. The discussion just started, so we will get there. We’ll come out with the peculiar solution that will resolve this problem. But I’m very confident that this coalition will come up with something that Nigerians will be surprised.”
Addressing concerns that opposition parties are weak, Dantalle attributed the situation largely to deliberate efforts by some individuals in power to undermine political parties they perceive as threats, accusing them of using their positions to undermine political parties they perceived as threats.
“Regarding political parties and not strong. We are all witness in this country that the judiciary has been used to damage political parties tremendously. We see a lot of political parties that some persons who are in power have used their position to destroy political parties because there’s fear—you feel that this party might be able to come up with this or that. So some of these injuries that—these deliberate injuries to political parties are a major thing.
“The destruction of political parties to a greater extent is deliberate. It is not the function of opposition’s inability to come together, but orchestrated plans by a few individuals who are in power to ensure that these do not stand.”
Calling for reforms to strengthen key institutions, including the judiciary and INEC, Dantalle said their independence and capacity to uphold the rules must be protected to address weaknesses in the political system.
“Until some of these things are addressed—the constitution, their independence, and the strengthening of institutions that are supposed to champion this course are strengthened.”
Speaking on when the coalition’s campaign plans would be presented to Nigerians, Dantalle said there were still four to five months before they could campaign, adding that the coalition had enough time to work out its plans.
“We have four to five months before they can campaign. Everything is possible.”
On the possibility of a single candidate failing to emerge, he declined to speculate, saying it would be premature to comment before the committee set up to address the issue completes its work.
“I won’t say what will happen then. That is why we set up the committee to come up with plans. Yes, so whatever I say now to that effect will be premature.”
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