Dr Boniface Aniebonam, Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says ongoing 2027 coalition negotiations cannot be done by former presidential candidates on behalf of political parties.
Aniebonam, who was reacting to ongoing merger talks and coalition plans spearheaded by major contenders in the 2023 presidential election, said it will not work.
“We do not have individual candidacy in Nigeria. All presidential candidates emerge from a political party and it is the parties that determines who will be their flag bearer.
“The ongoing meetings and negotiations here and there cannot make valid meanings if they fail to carry the leadership of their various political parties along.
“Members and leaders of the party are owners of the party. It is inappropriate to assume that when they enter their coalition, the members will automatically agree with the idea.
“So you can see that all the negotiations here and there will not make any difference for people who are not even sure of getting tickets of their parties.
“In an election, anything can happen wherein a party may opt for another candidate in their primaries. Some may even endorse the incumbent President to continue, making all these coalition claims far fetched,” Aniebonam said.
He pointed out that all presidential candidates who lost out in the 2023 election ceased to be leaders of their political parties.
The leaders are those in power and the party machinery.
“It is very surprising that most of the presidential candidates of the various political parties in the last general elections are still carrying themselves as leaders of the various political parties in Nigeria.
“And for the emphasis, it is only President Bola Tinubu, who won the presidential election in 2023 that is the leader of the All Progressives Congress.
“Let it be known to the frontline political parties, in-particular, that their leadership of PDP, Labour and NNPP, etc, respectively have ceased to exist immediately all post election litigations became resolved by the Supreme Court
“In the alleged coalition, none of the failed presidential election candidates has the authority to drag any political party into coalition of political parties ahead of 2027.
“The former candidates have the right to form a coalition individually as non registered political party in Nigeria or organisation or look for a platform to accept them.
Aniebonam said the NNPP might decide to go into a technical alliance with sister political parties of similar ideology in 2027 if there is need to do so.
“It is our hope that the inter party advisory council provides such opportunities.” he added.
