When Atiku made a call recently, requesting for opposition parties to unite in order to stop Nigeria’s descent into a one-party state, I laughed. I didn’t find Atiku’s request ridiculous because it lacks merit but the hidden agenda behind it.

Atiku has realized that the PDP and LP going into election in 2027 against Tinubu and APC’s rigging will be an effort in futility, so he is hoping that Obi and others will withdraw for him in the so-called coalition.

The question is, why is Atiku & some Northerners fooling themselves?

Atiku is not only greedy but also shortsighted, and impatient. This man would have most likely become president in 2007 if only he didn’t have those pieces of baggage I listed above. He was so disloyal to his boss Obasanjo, that he constantly planned and sabotaged him severally. In return, Obasanjo overlooked him as a successor and also vowed to stop his presidential ambition in future. When Goodluck Jonathan was about to go for his second tenure, which if he had completed it, the presidency would have returned to North and Atiku would have clinched the ticket in 2015. What did Atiku do? He naively and arrogantly sabotaged Jonathan and teamed up with Buhari who was in APC to destroy Jonathan’s chances. If Atiku wasn’t so unfortunate, he would have known that Buhari would rule for 8 years & there was no way another Northerner would succeed him.

Today, instead of giving up and accepting he blew up his chances due to his tomfoolery, he is once again on a wild goose chase.

The coalition for 2027 is a good idea, but it must have Obi as its flagbearer. Obi is the most popular politician in Nigeria today. He actually won the 2023 election but was rigged out. However, if North decides to give Obi full backing in 2027, and he gets block votes in the SE and SS, there is nothing Tinubu can do to stop him. Also, the national assembly must ensure that INEC becomes truly independent before 2027.