Comrade Deji Adeyanju, an activist and convener of the Concerned Nigerians group, has stated that the opposition's three front-runners for the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), must come together to form an alliance in order to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC
Adeyanju insisted that an alliance is necessary for the opposition to unseat the APC and expressed his sadness that "great ideas" rarely prevail in African elections.
He said he has monitored over 39 elections in Nigeria and outside the country, insisting that ‘big ideas’ don’t win elections in this clime except ‘stomach infrastructure’.
Speaking on a Twitter Spaces at the weekend, Adeyanju noted that even though the presidential candidates have been meeting secretly and openly, they were unserious about taking over power in 2023.
“They have been meeting secretly and openly. They are completely unserious political parties heading for a defeat,” Adeyanju said of the PDP, LP and the NNPP.
“Big ideas don’t win elections in Africa. What wins elections in this part of the world is tribe, ethnicity, religion, rigging, vote buying, stomach infrastructure. What the opposition are doing now will not help them. Wike may not work for Atiku if he is not sure he will win.
“No politicians want to be identified with failure. Peter Obi is good but Atiku can't step down for him. So, they must unite. It is common sense.
“We know the states where these candidates will win. When the results start coming from the KKK states, there will be throttling. Atiku, Obi, Kwankwanso must form a force. They should put somebody forward. Kwankwaso is already working for Tinubu because he does not want Atiku to emerge,” Adeyanju claimed.
Also speaking, the chairman of Emohua local government area of Rivers State, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, accused the Atiku camp of already boasting as if they have won the election.
“We can’t afford to go to this election with a divided house. The Atiku people are already talking as if they have won the election already,” Llyod said.
On his part, a member of the PDP in Kaduna State, Danjuma Bello Sarki, said he was confident that the PDP will win the 2023 presidential election.
According to Sarki, Nigerians can’t afford to allow the ruling APC to continue in 2023.
“Atiku is reaching out and by the grace of God, PDP will win because Nigerians can’t afford to allow the APC to continue,” Danjuma said.
A speaker, Charles Ideho, who said Atiku made a mistake in picking Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as a running mate, added that the Delta State governor doesn’t have the political muscle to produce votes from the South as expected.