‘It won’t work, they all want to be president’, APC scribe rapped at Ibadan opposition summit

National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ajibola Basiru has described the outcome of the Ibadan Summit by opposition political parties in the country as a sham.

He said the claims of the parties that they will field one presidential candidate in the 2027 elections against the APC will not come true, as individuals from different political parties all want to become president.

The country’s leading opposition figures gathered at a summit in Ibadan hosted by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.

At the end of the event, the group declared its intention to field a united candidate against President Bola Tinubu who is running for a second term.

Among those present were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi; former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

Also present included Peter Obi, David Mark, Professor Jerry Gana, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party faction, Saminu Turaki, and political strategist Pat Utomi.

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But responding on Saturday, Basiru stated, “I can assure you that they are only engaging in delusion. There are 19 political parties in Nigeria today, and many of them will have presidential candidates. Even within their own group which they call the opposition coalition, they will not agree on who will run for president.

“They are just deceiving themselves. They all want to be president: Atiku wants to be president, Obi wants to be president, Kwankwaso wants to be president, Seyi Makinde wants to be Vice President, then who will be their president?”

He further said, “The so-called Ibadan Summit is a ruse. It is a meeting of individuals, not ten political parties. In order for a party to hold a meeting, there must be prior permission from their NWC or NEC. Without this, the meeting is just a meeting of individuals.

“If they now claim that there are ten political parties coming together to gang up on one party, that is contrary to their previous narrative. This shows that political space is still open, but they do not have the strength to compete individually.”

He described plans for a unified candidate as unrealistic and politically disjointed, as the opposition’s internal struggles made the idea of ​​a unified presidential candidate impractical, and noted that the ambitions of key political figures would ultimately undermine any consensus arrangement.

He said, “We wish them luck if they can get it, but they still have to run on the platform of a particular political party, so they have to first agree on which party they want to nominate their candidate.

“They should concentrate on facing their own political problems rather than lying to the Nigerian people. We are ready to meet them at the polls,” he added.