The trio of Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Peter Obi have reportedly started talking about the possibility of merging in order to create a powerful party that can more effectively challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) in power as the country continues its transition process.
It was learned that the conversation between Atiku, the PDP’s presidential candidate, and Kwankwaso, the NNPP’s candidate in the most recent presidential election, was the beginning of the three political leaders’ meeting, which had been ongoing for some time.
The second meeting began to take shape after the other two stakeholders agreed to include Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and the face of the OBIdient Movement, after the first leg of the meetings was deemed successful.
Two pillars had supported the conversations, which were claimed to still be in the early stages.
Insiders claim that the three leaders have made the initial decision, which would define the second leg of the decision should the court’s judgement be unfavourable, to wait and see how the election petitions turn out.
For instance, sources with access to some of the conversations suggested that the leaders had faith that the presidential election tribunal would be “just and fair” enough to find that the election that elected President Bola Tinubu could not pass any reasonable electoral test and, as a result, take the appropriate action.
By doing this, the leaders were reportedly hoping that the tribunal would order a re-election or rerun, allowing them to join forces for the election and face Tinubu and the APC at a later date.
However, if the tribunal ruled differently, the leaders were rumoured to be considering forming a powerful party before the 2027 general election, when they intended to seize control of the government.
A source said, “The meeting started with Kwankwaso and Atiku and they have agreed to bring Peter Obi in to set up a formidable opposition after the court cases. Although they have not got to the point of discussing who will lead the opposition, they are leaving it out for now till after the court cases.
“After the court cases, they will plan and come together for a re-election or stand together ahead to fight the 2027 election battle. They are considering a formidable party comprising the PDP, Labour and NNPP.”
