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Why opposition decided to form alliance, produce one candidate *The Obj factor
Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian President is playing a major role in tinkering opposition politicians in Nigeria into one platform, leading to their decision on Saturday to produce a common candidate to square up against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
The former President is said to be the rallying point for the massive initiative, believed to have foreign components, including supports coming from as far as the United States and the United Kingdom, where Nigerians with influence are persuading authorities to help dislodge Tinubu and members of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The initiative is coming as lobbyists are intensifying efforts to press it on London and Washington about the need for a regime change in Nigerian, a project said to be getting traction, based on manifest anti-democratic credentials already manifesting within the government in Nigeria.
A current video circulating in recent days, showed one of the efforts being championed by Mike Arnold, former Republican Mayor of Blanco, Texas, and founder of Africa Arise International, a nonprofit focused on humanitarian work and missionary efforts in Nigeria.
The former mayor was seen in the video, not only pushing authorities in Washington to act fast to change the APC government of Tinubu, which he accused of doing little to prevent the massive killings in Nigeria, by ensuring a free and fair election in 2027.
An insider privy to the move, told WhirlwindNews: “What you saw today, is a foretaste of what is coming. You know these politicians are coming from every angle. Baba, is making sure that politicians get it right. That is why he is throwing his weight behind the initiative. He is doing everything to ensure that what Tinubu is planning for Nigeria doesn’t succeed.
“How can Nigeria descend into a one-party state where nobody will act outside the confines of the Tinubu influence. Is that not autocracy. That is what Obasanjo is trying to prevent. Such a thing is not going to happen under his watch, it is not going to happen before his nose. That is what he wants to prevent even if it is the last thing he does while alive.
He also spoke of the foreign arrangement, confirming the push to secure help from outside Nigeria, saying: “These people have captured all institutions in Nigeria – INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), the security agencies and the judiciary – so, what is left, is the determination of Nigerians not to allow it.
“You know what will result if Tinubu manages to capture Nigeria in the manner it is going. It is not going to stop there. Where we are headed is to make Nigeria like Cameroun under Paul Biya, Uganda under Yoweri Museveni and the likes. Of course these countries are watching known that what is at stake is democracy and the consequences will be great if Nigerian democracy fails.
Political leaders at a National Summit of Opposition Political Leaders held on Saturday in Ibadan, Oyo State, after weighing in on the current challenges facing the country, warned that democracy in the country was under increasing strain and required urgent collective action to safeguard it.
The summit, themed: Safeguarding Nigeria’s Democracy: A National Dialogue” brought together key opposition figures across party lines, culminating in the adoption of a joint communiqué known as the Ibadan Declaration.
Leaders at the event said the decision to rally behind a single candidate was driven by the need to avoid fragmentation of votes and strengthen the opposition’s chances at the polls.
Seyi Makinde, who hosted the delegation, while warning of not only a steady erosion of democratic competition, but that the concentration of political power under one party threatened pluralism, reminded the ruling party that the ‘wet e’ era in the defunct Western Nigeria, started from Ibadan, which he said must not be allowed to repeat itself.
“Democracy without opposition is not democracy, it is a slow drift toward a one-party state,” he said.
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Taminu Turaki, described the move as both strategic and necessary, warning that disunity has historically weakened opposition efforts.
“A single stick can be broken easily, but a bundle of sticks is far more difficult to break,” he said, urging political actors to prioritise national interest over individual ambition.
Turaki maintained that Nigeria is currently experiencing what he termed “progressive regression,” citing worsening insecurity, economic challenges, and declining confidence in democratic institutions.
“This is not a moment for silence or division; it is a moment for decisive action,” he said.
Former Senate President David Mark described the moment as a “national rescue mission,” stressing that no single opposition party could confront the current political structure alone.
“We cannot confront the future as fragmented entities. This is the time to rewrite the story of coalition building in Nigeria,” Mark said.
In the communiqué issued at the end of the summit, opposition parties reaffirmed their commitment to contest the 2027 elections at all levels, rejecting what they described as attempts to impose a one-party state.
They also resolved to resist any move to make the election a one-candidate race, insisting that Nigerians must be presented with credible alternatives.
Beyond the consensus candidacy plan, the declaration raised concerns over the credibility of the electoral process.
They passed a vote of no confidence in the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan.
The opposition leaders alleged bias and called for his removal from overseeing the 2027 elections.
The summit further urged the National Assembly to review contentious provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, and demanded an extension of deadlines for party primaries to the end of July 2026.
Participants also called for the release of political actors allegedly detained on bailable offences, stressing the need for inclusivity and respect for fundamental rights.
Speakers at the summit, in their separate remarks, repeatedly stressed that Nigeria stands at a critical juncture, urging leaders to act decisively to preserve democratic institutions.
The summit ended with the declaration of a shared commitment among opposition parties to deepen collaboration, rebuild public trust, and present a united challenge in 2027.
The Ibadan meeting attracted several prominent political figures from different political parties, including the PDP and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Among them were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola, former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, political economist Pat Utomi, and elder statesman Jerry Gana, among other notable political leaders.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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