Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal has confirmed that the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), if off the cards ahead of the coalition movement to unseat President Bola Tinubu.
NATIONAL POST recalls that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, had in March this year, announced the formation of a coalition of opposition political parties to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
He said, “Yes, this is the birth of the coalition of opposition ahead of 2027.”
Among those present when Atiku made the announcement were the 2023 Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who was represented by Dr Yunusa Tanko; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal; former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; a former gubernatorial hopeful in Ogun State, Segun Sowunmi; former Director General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman; Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, Chief Peter Ameh and Soni Monidafe, among others.
There has been a back and forth over the coalition, especially with the PDP governors expressing unwillingness to be part of it.
And speaking to PUNCH, Babachir, a member of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), as well chieftain of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change said, “every time we had discussions with members of other groups working toward a coalition, the name PDP never came up.
“Everybody we talk to about PDP, the answer we get is that it is an incurable virus. I have attended almost all the meetings of all the groups.
“But I have never attended a meeting where the PDP was one of the parties up for consideration among those of us discussing the merger.
“Of course, Atiku is a whale in the PDP. I don’t know whether his plans would have been to bring the PDP into the merger.
“But you know the modalities we have been discussing are whether we could form a brand new political party, that’s one option, or we could all as a group join an existing party.
“That has been our direction. As we analyse the parties that we could join, I have never had anyone mention PDP.
“So the governors are just humouring themselves. Quite a lot of the governors and existing stakeholders have reached out to some of us, saying that the PDP can be repaired.
“But anytime they say that, we see the scenario getting worse. So I don’t think those in the PDP are serious people.”
The former SGF also re-affirmed that Atiku is an active member of this coalition.
“Oh, yes. I think he is even more committed than everybody. I can say that based on my analysis of the active role he plays in getting all the groups to come together,” he declared.
On the next option with the PDP out, Babachir said, “We have never looked at the SDP as a stand-alone option. As I said earlier, we analyse the parties.
“There are conditions among the parties that we need to see. First of all, the party constitution must allow for the mass entry of certain groups and it must allow for the accommodation of the interests of those groups.
“If, for example, a particular party has a constitution that says you must be a member of the political party for four years before you can contest, obviously, that rules out that party.
“So we look at all these small issues and look at their constitution and things like that.
“So, SDP was one of those that kept coming up. Whatever you might say about it, the SDP is the oldest surviving political party in Nigeria now. So it has been around for many years.”
He added that, “There are many options still open to us. Some of our members are in the Labour Party and are involved in the merger talks.
“Eventually, if we determine that a particular party offers the best conditions for all of us, we will join it. If it’s the LP, why not? If it’s the SDP, why not?
“Clearly, we have not been talking to the PDP.”