By ERICJAMES OCHIGBO

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, says opposition political parties can present a consensus presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.

Adebayo stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, while speaking on the prospects of the opposition alliance, following the G100 summit held in Abuja on Monday.

NAN reports that leaders and stakeholders of six opposition political parties had, on Monday, held a summit in Abuja to develop a framework for cooperation and coordination ahead of the 2027 general election.

NAN also reports that the summit, spearheaded by a former APC chieftain, Dr Salihu Lukman, centred around the possibility of presenting a consensus opposition presidential candidate against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The political parties in the arrangement include: African Democratic Congress (ADC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Adebayo, who was physically present at the Monday summit, however, said that the opposition must be sincere and patriotic in its negotiations and learn from the mistakes of the Second Republic by uniting behind a common candidate.

He recalled that prominent politicians with strong political credentials had contested against one another in the past, arguing that their inability to reach consensus contributed to the victory that eluded them.

The presidential candidate said that the current opposition leaders must avoid repeating such mistakes by allowing a transparent process in determining who among the candidates is most capable of winning the 2027 presidential election and governing effectively.

“Since the constitution allows only one person to emerge as president at a time, the opposition must, therefore, set aside personal ambitions and focus on producing a candidate capable of addressing the challenges confronting Nigerians,” he said.

If the consensus arrangement will work, Adebayo said that the opposition must present a compelling programme that would give Nigerians hope and provide solutions to insecurity, unemployment, corruption and economic hardship.

He also said that such an arrangement must be must be honest, patriotic, serious and devoid of any attempt to be tricky in the negotiation process.

Adebayo described SDP as a political party with the best manifesto in the country, as it aligned with relevant sections of the constitution upon which government is ran.

He said that the party was participating in the process without insisting that its candidate must automatically emerge by all means.

Adebayo said that the party was more concerned about the emergence of a candidate and programme that would transform the country.

He said that the opposition also needed to convince Nigerians that its members were capable of putting the country’s interest above their individual ambitions.

“We are only looking at what is objectively reasonable, what is the best programme to serve the Nigerian people, that when they look at it, they will have the hope and say if we support these people, Nigeria will be a better country and they will come out, far better than they did in Osun and own it.

“Secondly, who can we unveil to the people, who is acceptable for them to see us as sensible people; that is what we are working toward.

“I am going there with my heart because I have nothing to lose. I am not the president for now; the only person who has something to lose now is the person sitting on the throne. All of us are on the ground already; so there is no stepping down.

“All I am interested in is to ensure that the programme that goes there is farewell to insecurity, farewell to poverty and unemployment, farewell to poor economy, to failure and to corruption.

“Then we will look at ourselves and say, the way this programme is, a certain candidate is more likely to be the person who can do this job and the one the people will believe can do it.

“I believe is doable; because for a country of over 200 million for you to be one of the 18 people who can be president means you have come far, but we are looking for one.

“I think we can use intelligence to do it; it may not be what you expect; it may not be whom you expect, but generally, we should be able to do it,” he said.

Adebayo said that the G100 platform had provided an opportunity for opposition to fight electoral malpractice from a united front and to ensure INEC and other agencies followed due process.

He expressed the optimism that continued engagements among opposition leaders would enable them to identify their respective strengths and eventually determine the candidate most likely to defeat the ruling party in 2027. (NAN)