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Possible Opposition Coalition Aspirants Positioning Themselves to replace Tinubu in 2027

Although the 2027 general elections are still nearly two years away, opposition politicians, particularly those seeking to remove President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from office, have begun preparations in earnest. Last week, major opposition leaders coalesced under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the political party they adopted ahead of the next general elections.

Consisting of familiar faces, including its progenitor, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and several other politicians who have criss-crossed different parties in recent memory, the coalition threw down the gauntlet for the ruling party. All the figureheads in the movement were aligned by one ambition, and this they succinctly enunciated: get Tinubu out of office in 2027.

While Nigerians wait and the ruling party holds its breath for the coalition to make its move, we examine four key aspirants who might receive the coalition’s nod to confront Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Atiku Abubakar

The former Vice President has become a regular feature in Nigerian presidential election contests. Having finished second in his last attempt, which he contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku midwifed this coalition, with the conviction that the alliance offers the opposition the best chance to defeat the incumbent President.

He probably acted upon the popular opinion that divided opposition helped Tinubu’s course in 2023, as they collectively threw away over 14 million votes. In contrast, the eventual winner only recorded over eight million votes. Atiku’s strategy relies on securing a large number of votes from his northern region and a decent showing in the south, where Tinubu hails from.

Although he’s yet to declare his intention publicly, the former Vice President hasn’t ruled himself out either. After the 2023 election, Atiku affirmed that “I’m not going anywhere,” indicating a strong desire to run for the presidency again in 2027, when he will be 80 years old. Some stakeholders have also been advocating that the coalition choose a northern candidate, proposing this as the game-changer, considering the reported growing resentments toward Tinubu from that region.

Peter Obi

Since his defeat in 2023, Obi has remained a consistent voice of strong opposition, strengthening the belief that he will stake another claim in 2027.

The former Labour Party presidential aspirant didn’t even mince words when asked in a recent interview. “I will run as a presidential candidate in 2027,” he replied after being asked if he’s made a deal to be Atiku’s running mate.

The former Anambra State Governor also stated that he’s committed to the coalition’s course, but refused to deny his membership in the Labour Party. This simply means Obi is not putting all his eggs in one basket.

Apart from this suspected double play, Obi has been sending signals to the coalition on why he should be trusted with the ticket. In the same interview referenced above, he reiterated his earlier statement that he’s content with serving one term as president.

This is undoubtedly a deft move to counter the southern sentiment that Tinubu should be allowed to complete his eight-year term in office. While his remarks may resonate with some people, other stakeholders have insisted that a fellow southerner stands no chance against the incumbent President.

Another challenge Obi’s one-term pledge portends is that it leaves Atiku at a big disadvantage due to the age factor. By 2031, the former Vice President will be 84 years old and public sentiment might be swayed against an ageing president. In all, one thing is clear at this moment: Obi’s eyes are firmly on the coalition ticket, and he’s not making a secret out of it.

Rotimi Amaechi

Another person who has made no secret of his intention to contest the coalition presidential ticket is Rotimi Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State and Transportation Minister under the immediate past government of Muhammadu Buhari.

Amaechi is one of the vociferous opposition voices to President Tinubu, a man he ran against for the APC presidential ticket in 2022. Though Tinubu recorded a wide margin victory in the contest, Amaechi gave a good account of himself, finishing a distant second but defeating the likes of then-incumbent Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

This impressive outing may have strengthened the former Minister’s resolve and conviction to put himself forward as a viable alternative to Tinubu in 2027.

He has since dumped his old stomping ground for the coalition. Like Obi, Amaechi has also expressed readiness to be a one-term president to balance out the unwritten agreement of southern and northern rotational presidency.

However, political analysts have observed that Amaechi’s emergence is also a decoy for him to regain political relevance, especially in Rivers, where the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, is currently calling the shots

Though former allies, Wike stopped Amaechi from installing his predecessor in 2015, ever since, the PDP chieftain has exerted his influence and continues to dominate Rivers politics.

But it was his alliance with candidate Tinubu in 2023 that further weakened Amechi’s base. With his ministerial power gone and no real influence in power decisions in the oil-rich state, the former Transportation Minister saw the coalition as an opportunity to reestablish himself and, perhaps, also pay Tinubu back in his coin, all in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile, another school of thought believes Atiku clinching the coalition ticket is inevitable, therefore, leaving the likes of Amaechi and Obi to jostle for the vice presidential slot.

Nasir El Rufai

Former Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufai’s name has also been mentioned as a potential candidate for the coalition’s presidential ticket, although he has yet to express an interest publicly.

However, the former FCT Minister has all the motivation in the world to give it a try. It’s an open secret that El-Rufai played a role, the significance of which can only be determined by people with knowledge of the inner workings of the APC, in Tinubu’s emergence as the APC candidate in 2022.

He also stood by the former Lagos State Governor in the general election, even though he failed to deliver the majority of votes in his state. However, things have since gone south between the duo.

With Tinubu making an about-turn after nominating El-Rufai for a ministerial position, the former Kaduna Governor may be out to extract his own pound of flesh. At the same time, there’s a little matter of Governor Uba Sani, his successor in Kaduna State.

Having felt betrayed by a man whom he helped to power in 2023, El-Rufai might also pull his weight to settle a score with Sani by ensuring he doesn’t get re-elected and this might be a great factor to fight for the ADC ticket.

Local politics aside, words from the grapevine have it that the former FCT Minister is eyeing the presidency in 2031, so he won’t turn down the chance that makes the dream realisable four years earlier than he envisaged.

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Bayelsa Governor Diri joins APC, Calls The PDP A ‘sinking ship’

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, on Monday formally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressives Congress, describing his former party as a “sinking ship.”

Vice President Kashim Shettima led a high-powered APC delegation to Yenagoa to receive the governor into the party at a colourful ceremony held at the Samson Siasia Sports Stadium.

Also present were Senate President Godswill Akpabio and governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), and Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom).

Diri’s defection, coming ahead of the 2027 general elections, makes him the fourth PDP governor to join the APC this year, following similar moves by Oborevwori, Eno, and Enugu’s Peter Mbah.

The governor had earlier announced his resignation from the PDP on October 15 during a meeting with his cabinet, citing what he called “obvious reasons.”

Speaking at the event, Diri said he took the decision to save Bayelsa from sharing in the fate of what he described as a dying opposition party.

“We tried all we could to save the PDP, but to no avail. Undertakers were very busy to bury the party,” he said.

“After seeing that the undertakers wanted to bury the PDP, I never wanted my state to be buried alongside it. So after consultations with our leaders, it was incumbent on me as governor to make a decision.”

Diri declared that his defection represented more than a personal political move, calling it a wider “Ijaw realignment.”

“This defection is not a Bayelsa defection. It is the Ijaw nation defecting to the APC,” he stated.

The governor referenced his long history as an Ijaw activist, recalling that the demand for a coastal highway linking Lagos and Calabar had been a major agitation of the Ijaw National Congress since the military era.

“Even during the military regime, we requested a coastal road from Lagos to Calabar,” he said, displaying an old memorandum sent to the then Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

“Today, President Bola Tinubu has acted on that demand. He has shown that he loves the Ijaw and Bayelsa people. If we have a President who understands our needs, I have no reason to remain on a sinking ship.”

Diri explained that he had been under pressure from his South-South colleagues to join the ruling party after becoming the only PDP governor left in the region.

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Entertainment

The Cavemen Drop New Album – Cavy In The City

The Cavemen’s new album Cavy in the City dropped on 31 October, and it feels like a confident return to form for the duo: Kingsley Okorie on bass and Benjamin James on drums. Known for reimagining traditional highlife with live instrumentation and rich nostalgia, the brothers once again build on what they’ve always done best.

The project opens with a warm homage to the legends: Rex Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, Osita Osadebe, and Oliver De Coque, instantly grounding it in the music’s roots. Sonically and visually, the record leans into that vintage spirit. Even the cover art, like Show Dem Camp’s Afrika Magic, nods to old Nigerian poster design with its bold, grainy, and proudly analogue look.

Compared to their last album, Love and Highlife (2024), which experimented more with contemporary sounds and collaborations, this one feels closer in spirit to their debut Roots, which is familiar and more faithful to the traditional highlife rhythms that first made fans fall in love.

Their latest album, Cavy in the City, arrives as a confident extension of what they’ve always done best: traditional highlife music reimagined through live instrumentation, arranged sounds, and nostalgia.

The Cavemen are students of sound. Their live-band approach gives the album a steady rhythm, powered by drums, deep basslines, and proper jazz-style. Here, they lean even deeper into highlife, less genre-blending, more focus. The songs blend into each other in a way that’s good enough, although there’s still a little sonic interruption here and there. Those interruptions are enough to distinguish certain tracks.

Production-wise, Cavy in the City is good. The mixing isn’t glossy or overdone; it’s a sort of warm music that fits a Sunday afternoon gathering more than a club night. The Cavemen aren’t trying to modernise highlife, either. They’re preserving it while giving it motion.

Despite the album title, Cavy in the City doesn’t build a clear concept around urban life or transition. Instead, it feels like a loose collection of moments and moods. The interludes do a lot of the heavy lifting, keeping the flow from track to track.

The standout collaborations work smoothly within that flow. Angelique Kidjo on Keep on Moving adds her signature sound, while Pa Salieu brings structure to Gatekeepers. Neither feature disrupts The Cavemen’s sound; they simply expand it.

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US President Donald Trump threatens Nigeria on Saturday with possible military action for the alleged “killing of Christians.”

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,'” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The threat came one day after he claimed that Christianity is facing an “existential threat” in Nigeria and accused “radical Islamists” of being responsible for “mass slaughter.”

“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!” said Trump.

He warned the Nigerian government to “move fast.”

The US military “may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”, Trump added.

“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth responded: “Yes sir … The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

Islamist extremism in Nigeria shot to international attention more than a decade ago when in 2014 militants from Boko Haram, which violently opposes Western education, kidnapped 276 mostly Christian schoolgirls from the town of Chibok.

But in recent months, senior figures within Trump’s MAGA coalition have seized on ongoing attacks against Christians by Islamist insurgents, with some claiming the targeted killings constitute a “genocide”.

Texas senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, claimed last month that the Nigerian government might be complicit in the violence, a suggestion it has categorically denied.

“Officials in Nigeria are ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists,” Cruz said.

Trump on Friday claimed that Christianity was facing an “existential threat in Nigeria”, blaming “radical Islamists” for the attacks. He designated the West African state as a “country of particular concern” — a step that can precede the imposition of sanctions against a specific nation.

Trump first designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern towards the end of his first term in 2020, but the decision was reversed by the Biden administration the following year.

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