Opposition Summit: G100 lists focal areas, names expected participants

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The G100 has listed the focal areas for negotiation and named the expected participants ahead of its first summit of key stakeholders of Nigeria’s opposition political parties, scheduled for Monday in Abuja.

In a statement issued on Thursday on behalf of the coalition and signed by Salihu Moh. Lukman, the Summit, convened under the theme “A Framework for Opposition Cooperation and Coordination,” will bring together the leadership of Nigeria’s principal opposition political parties to begin a structured negotiation on the terms, institutions and principles upon which they may cooperate ahead of the 2027 general election.

Among the proposals before the Summit, the G100 said, will be the establishment of structures to facilitate negotiations and cooperation, including five specialised Working Groups.

Subject to the decisions of the participating parties, these bodies will be mandated to develop, within four weeks, the principal documents and agreements required to give institutional form to opposition cooperation.

The statement listed expected participants as National Chairmen, party leaders and members of the National Working Committees of the 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; Presidential Candidates and Running Mates of the participating political parties; and G100 signatories and members of the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives.

The statement said the gathering followed the G100’s publication, on August 2 of the Doctrine of a Necessary Democratic Opposition, and several weeks of direct consultations with the leadership of the six opposition parties.

Those consultations, it said, culminated in a shared briefing titled A Framework for Opposition Cooperation and Coordination, which identified areas of convergence among the participating parties while recognising their distinct histories, identities and political interests.

At the centre of the consultations, according to the statement, was a common recognition of the need for a credible, organised and competitive democratic opposition, alongside a willingness to engage the difficult questions that meaningful cooperation ahead of 2027 will require.

“Cooperation does not require any party to disappear into another. The first question before party leaders is not who leads the ticket. It is what we are, together, prepared to do for this country,” the statement said.

The G100 said the first summit is not intended to resolve questions of presidential candidacy or the final form opposition cooperation may take in a single sitting. Its immediate purpose, the statement explained, is more fundamental — to establish and authorise a formal architecture through which those questions can be negotiated collectively, transparently and in good faith.

Each participating political party is expected to attend with a delegation of leaders and key stakeholders drawn from its national leadership and other relevant constituencies, the statement said, adding that these delegations will participate fully in deliberations to ensure the process extends beyond principal party leaders and draws on a broader range of political experience, perspectives and interests.

The G100 stressed that it is convening the summit strictly as a facilitator and observer, not as a substitute for the constitutional authority, independence or decision-making structures of the participating political parties, adding that decisions arising from the process will remain the responsibility of the parties themselves.

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