Former Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has dismissed the possibility of Nigeria’s opposition parties successfully forming a merger ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Fashola said the ruling party remains the only political organisation in Nigeria’s history that has achieved a successful merger capable of unseating an incumbent government.
According to him, the opposition is currently struggling to replicate what the APC accomplished before the 2015 elections.
“Those who stood in opposition against our emergence are now trying to form a coalition, and they are seeing how difficult it is to form a merger that produces APC.
He said: “History will tell you that that is the only merger that has occurred in Nigeria’s political history. They said it can’t happen, but it happened. The opposition can’t do their own.”
He further stated that although members of the ruling APC are preparing for the next general election, official campaigns have yet to commence, as the Electoral Act clearly stipulates when campaigns are permitted to begin.
“I know that people are already warming up but the campaign has not started yet. The electoral law stipulates when the campaign should start. Our party is organising because we are progressives,” he said.
Fashola added that the APC’s progressive identity lies in its commitment to improving the human condition and ensuring better governance for Nigerians.