Atiku-led coalition against Tinubu's re-election will fail, says Yakasai
The opposition coalition being led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to scuttle the re-election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 poll will fall like a pack of cards, according to Dr Tanko Yakasai.
Relatedly, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said it was galvanising Nigerians in the Diaspora, ahead of the unveiling of a coalition to wrest power from the APC in 2027.
Yakasai, who is the Director-General of the Tinubu Support Group (TSG), in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, at the weekend, also dismissed talks of Nigeria becoming a one-party state due to the gale of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Kano State-born politician argued that there was nothing wrong with the development since the APC had also lost their members to the opposition political parties in the country.
He insisted that the Atiku-led coalition would not be trusted by Nigerians because they failed in the past when given the opportunity to govern the country, adding that Tinubu was trying to clear the mess they left behind by putting Nigeria on a path of development.
“You can remember that it was in this country that $16 billion meant for power infrastructure went missing; it was in this country that we had the Halliburton scandal for which an American senator was jailed, but collaborators in Nigeria have not faced the law.
“So, APC has come to correct these things done by PDP. Most of them, who held sway since 1999, and I know them well, performed badly. Now that Tinubu has come to rectify their misgovernance, instead of supporting him, they are forming a coalition to take power again after they had been driven out by Nigerians.”
Highlighting Tinubu’s achievements since he assumed office in 2023, Yakasai, who supervises scores of other support groups with millions of members across the country, referred to the removal of fuel subsidy and the streamlining of the parallel foreign exchange market, which hitherto saw a few connected persons doing round-tripping (getting foreign currency from the Central Bank of Nigeria) as key achievement of the President Tinubu led administration.
ADC said it was set for a conference, today, to mobilise the Nigerian Diaspora community towards the 2027 contest.
The National Chairman, Ralphs Okey Nwosu, told journalists in Abuja that the conference would be part of efforts to build consensus for the coalition of opposition parties and politicians for the next general elections.
Nwosu noted that the conference with the theme, ‘Imperative of Diaspora Leadership in Building the Coalition for Change and National Transformation in Nigeria and Africa’, would witness the convergence of politicians and technocrats
According to him, this is an indication that the proposed coalition enjoys the support of Nigerians from all walks of life.
He added: “Nigerians, including most Diasporas, are determined to make their contribution to ensure our country’s rejuvenation and the continent’s renaissance.”
