Salihu Lukman, former National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to convene a coalition of former leaders to form a united opposition party that can challenge President Bola Tinubu and the APC in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
Lukman’s comments come in response to an interview where Obasanjo remarked that “a leader made by Satan is bound to fail, while God’s chosen one will thrive.” He emphasized that to cultivate principled leadership in Nigeria, Obasanjo and other former leaders—including Generals Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and former President Goodluck Jonathan—bear a significant moral responsibility to engage with all opposition parties in the nation to create an effective political party.
In his open letter to Obasanjo, Lukman stated, “We must take all necessary steps to guide Nigeria towards the emergence of Godly leaders. Your Excellency, along with leaders like Gen. Gowon, Gen. Babangida, Gen. Abdulsalami, former President Jonathan, and former President Buhari, have a crucial obligation to unify all opposition political leaders to establish a viable political party that can lead to the rise of Godly leadership in Nigeria.
“Merely lamenting the issue of corrupt leadership is insufficient. If you and other former leaders do not exercise your moral authority to foster the emergence of venerable leaders, we risk inadvertently supporting President Tinubu’s second term along with his administration’s myriad failures. Ultimately, this would signify a preference for corrupt leadership.
Lukman expressed concern that as long as politics devolves into mere cheerleading, Nigeria will continue to suffer from poor leadership. He added, “With such dysfunction, the nation will see persistent impunity in politics. Even if we create new parties under different names, they would likely be nothing more than clones of the PDP and APC.”
He elaborated on the downfall of the APC, stating, “We must identify how to prevent this repetition. Is there hope for a swift political re-engineering that can form an effective party dedicated to nurturing leaders with moral integrity? Your Excellency, this is the essence of my letter. I sincerely believe that it is feasible to establish a functional political party that can herald the arrival of principled leadership in the near future.
“Indeed, this process is already underway. However, there are inherent risks that, if not addressed, could jeopardize our progress and lead us back to a situation akin to the failed PDP/APC model. If this happens, we may find ourselves plagued by even worse leaders, shaped by corrupt logic. The primary risk lies in the inability to unite all opposition political leaders under a single platform.”
