As Nigerians count down the days to the 2027 general election, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has called for unity among the opposition parties, urging them to find a common front to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and incumbent president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Duke, who was the governor of Cross River State from 1999 to 2007, like Tinubu in Lagos, gave the advice while featuring on Politics Today, monitored by Nigerian Tribune, on Monday night in Abuja.
However, he added that a divided opposition would pave the way for Tinubu’s second term effortlessly, as he charged them (the opposition) to put their arsenal together to fight a common battle rather than expressing regret for failure to plan well ahead of the poll.
He nonetheless said he is ready to sacrifice his presidential ambition and back a formidable candidate presented by the opposition to give Tinubu a fight for his money.
Duke said, “The reality is that things are bound to happen on that (election) day, how to mitigate those things should be the major concern of the opposition. I don’t like people who cry wolf after it has happened and all that. We have done this several times over. We should anticipate it and united we stand if we do it. If we don’t, then we will only have ourselves to blame because it has repeated itself” and on stepping down his ambition, he added, “Absolutely. First of all, once we have commonality in objective, the next question is who is best suited for this? You need some voice of reason amongst the lot of them.”
The presidential candidate also said that Tinubu’s government has pushed more Nigerians into poverty, saying the President’s style of governance has taken hope away from Nigerians in place of the renewed hope he promised in 2023, adding that Tinubu no longer enjoys the support he previously had then while seeking the presidency.
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“I don’t think so, I think his governance has exposed the weakness of the contraption called. I don’t think he has the sympathies he had in 2023. Things have gone harder for people, a lot of people are disillusioned by his style of governance, hope has turned into despair. Yes, you talk about structures and all that but I think on the election day they will be fighting for their own survival.
“Give it to him, he is a formidable politician, my issue with him is governance not politics. He is weak on governance, from what we have seen over the last three years he is very weak on governance,” the former governor added.
While promising that he would introduce a better governance structure in place if elected as president, he said another term in office for Tinubu will spell doom for the country, saying Nigerians deserve a better alternative as the election year approaches.
