2027: Turaki-led PDP Faction Backs G-100 Bid to Defeat APC

The Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party has thrown its support behind the G-100 initiative aimed at bringing opposition parties together to challenge the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections.

The faction announced its position on Tuesday through its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, following the first G-100 meeting held on Monday at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

The meeting brought together representatives of several opposition parties to discuss cooperation ahead of the 2027 elections and the possibility of producing a single presidential candidate to face the ruling APC.

The PDP faction said it decided to join the process because of the economic difficulties and other challenges it believes Nigerians are facing under the APC-led administration of President Bola Tinubu.

According to the faction, opposition parties need to put aside individual interests and work together if they want to present a strong alternative to the ruling party in the next presidential election.

The group said its involvement in the G-100 process would be guided by transparency, equal treatment, the use of reliable data and fairness in decision-making. It said these principles would help the opposition reach a result that could produce credible leadership for the country.

The faction also linked its decision to its earlier position of cooperating with political parties and groups that share its goal of defeating the APC and addressing the country’s political and economic challenges.

It said its attendance at the Abuja meeting showed its willingness to contribute to efforts aimed at building a broad opposition platform capable of taking power from the APC and forming a government focused on improving the lives of Nigerians.

The G-100 meeting was attended by representatives of six opposition parties. Participants agreed to begin formal discussions on how the parties could work together ahead of the 2027 elections.

The parties also agreed to create committees and working groups that would handle different aspects of the proposed cooperation. Their tasks will include developing plans for opposition unity, preparing a national reform programme and working out a process for selecting a common presidential candidate.

The latest move is part of growing efforts among opposition groups to prevent a repeat of the 2023 presidential election, when opposition votes were spread among several major candidates.

Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso were among the leading opposition figures who contested the 2023 presidential election separately, while Bola Tinubu emerged as the winner for the APC.

The G-100 process is therefore seeking to address the divisions that affected the opposition in the previous election by creating a platform where different parties can negotiate their interests before the 2027 contest.

However, Atiku and Obi were not present at Monday’s meeting. Their absence was not officially presented as a rejection of the initiative.

The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, had said the meeting was mainly focused on cooperation between political parties and was not specifically a gathering of presidential candidates.

The participation of the Turaki-led PDP faction now adds another major opposition bloc to the G-100 discussions as the parties consider how best to unite their structures and possibly agree on one presidential candidate.

The success of the initiative will depend on whether the participating parties and their presidential hopefuls can accept a common process for resolving competing ambitions and choosing a candidate ahead of the 2027 election.