• Don’t bungle next general elections, Nigerians urged
Plans by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to elect former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, as its national chairman, have thrown the coalition of opposition politicians coalescing on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) into panic.
This is just as the short-listing of the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) as a new political association by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has thrown up a new option for a credible alliance of opposition parties for the 2027 general elections.
Prior to the adoption of ADC as the coalition platform, promoters of the League of Northern Democrats, Shekarau and Dr. Umar Ardo, had argued for ADA’s registration as a new political party instead of adopting an existing platform to avoid a potential crisis of leadership and legitimacy.
But, clarifying that Shekarau never joined the ADC coalition, Dr Yau Sule Yau maintained that the former Kano State governor faulted the coalition process, pointing out that, in addition to his belief that politicians should collaborate to refine the country’s governance, he remained a member of the PDP.
It could be recalled that while the ADA was among the 14 political associations that qualified for the next round of interface with INEC for registration as political parties, the PDP, through its Governors’ Forum, led by the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, adopted Shekarau as a consensus national chairman during the party’s November 15/16 National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Shekarau’s choice is said to have received positive endorsements by notable leaders of the party, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential contender, Peter Obi, during their recent closed-door meeting in Abuja.
A mutual friend of Obi and the former President confided in The Guardian that apart from comparing notes on their inferences about the build-up to the 2027 general elections, both men commended the efforts of the Bauchi state governor to mend the PDP and wean it away from a culture of betrayals that spanned 2013 through 2023.
“The former President re-echoed his concerns about betrayals. He was not happy that some politicians derive pleasure in creating false narratives just to feather their political caps. He expressed relief that a former Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, is being approached to preside over the affairs of the PDP.
