The State Chairman of NNPP in Ondo State, Pastor Peter Olagookun, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Akure.
According to him, except and until the key actors driving the planned coalition to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), unite, they may not realise their political objectives.
Olagookun urged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to forgo his presidential ambition in the 2027 general election and support Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP instead.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and others advocating for an opposition coalition should persuade Atiku to step aside from the 2027 presidential race.
“He should support his brother, Kwankwaso, and together they should select a strong candidate from the South as his running mate.
“I believe that with this arrangement, the ruling party will not be able to withstand the opposition.
“But without such unity, the coalition will not work; it will collapse like dust before the 2027 general election,” he cautioned.
Olagookun said that opposition leaders must set aside personal ambitions and rally behind a strong northern candidate—Kwankwaso—as a consensus choice.
According to him, if Atiku steps down, posterity will remember him as a leader who sacrificed his personal ambition for the greater good of the country.
He further stated that Kwankwaso, whom he described as a credible candidate, would lead the opposition to a smooth victory in 2027.
“Kwankwaso is the only man who can defeat the ruling party and rescue Nigeria from its current situation.
“He has genuine, widespread support and well-structured political influence across both the northern and southern regions of the country through his Kwankwasiyya Movement,” he said.
Olagookun also commended Atiku for his role in nation-building and for mobilising key opposition stakeholders ahead of the 2027 election in an effort to rescue the country(NAN)
