By Nigeria’s opposition parties converge at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja today for a summit aimed at building a common front against President Bola Tinubu and the ruling APC ahead of the 2027 presidential election. The gathering, organized by the political pressure group G-100, has already exposed the very fragmentation it hopes to solve, with the Peoples Democratic Party confirming it will not attend.
Who Is Attending
The Social Democratic Party and the Peoples Redemption Party have both confirmed participation. The PDP has ruled itself out entirely. Efforts to reach the African Democratic Congress and the Nigeria Democratic Congress for their positions had not succeeded as of the time this report was filed.
G-100 is led by Salihu Lukman, former Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, who has long argued that a divided opposition cannot match the organizational and financial advantages of an incumbent ruling party.
G-100’s Case for Cooperation
In a statement issued Sunday, a day ahead of the summit, Lukman’s group described the gathering as arriving at a defining moment for Nigerian democracy. It said millions of Nigerians expect the opposition to offer more than criticism of government, namely the discipline and national purpose needed to present a credible alternative.
The group stressed that cooperation does not require any party to give up its identity. It acknowledged that participating parties differ in history, structure and presidential ambitions, but argued those differences should not block cooperation where interests align. As the statement put it, there are moments when what unites a movement must matter more than what separates it.
G-100 also warned that a divided opposition tends to strengthen the incumbent it is trying to unseat. When parties competing for the same broad constituency split their energy, resources and votes, the group said, they risk turning their own differences into an advantage for the other side. Its conclusion was blunt: division is a choice, and cooperation must now become a strategy.
SDP and PRP Confirm Attendance
SDP National Publicity Secretary Rufus Aiyenigba confirmed his party’s full participation, describing it as occupying a frontline position within the G-100 initiative. He said the party remains committed to working with what he called true democrats and patriots who mean well for Nigeria, and confirmed that SDP presidential candidate Prince Adewole Adebayo, along with the party’s national leadership, would attend in person.
PRP National Publicity Secretary Bello Ishaq gave a shorter confirmation, telling this reporter by phone that the party would attend, without elaborating further.
PDP Draws a Line
The PDP was unambiguous in distancing itself from the summit. Jungudo Mohammed, spokesman for the party’s National Caretaker Committee, said in a WhatsApp message that the PDP was not aware of any gathering styled as an opposition summit and was not part of any planned alliance arrangement with another party. He added that any opposition discussion the PDP is not involved in is, in his words, dead on arrival.
Not a Contest for Influence, G-100 Says
Anticipating that the summit could be read as a fight for opposition leadership, G-100 said that was not the point. Its stated goal is to build practical mechanisms for opposition parties to engage, coordinate and work through disagreements, while leaving each party’s identity and structure intact.
The group urged leaders to approach discussions in good faith, acknowledging that disagreements and competing ambitions are natural in politics but arguing that none of it should be allowed to deny Nigerians a credible alternative. It said plainly that the summit was not about declaring winners or losers within the opposition, but about ensuring Nigerian democracy comes out ahead.
The Bigger Picture
The push for cooperation unfolds against unresolved tension over whether the opposition can unite behind a single consensus candidate for 2027, a debate complicated by competing presidential ambitions and disputes over what any alliance would look like. This publication reported last week that some presidential hopefuls within the emerging coalition are likely to resist pressure to step aside for a single candidate, a dynamic that continues to hang over talks like today’s.
G-100 closed its Sunday statement with an appeal to summit attendees to keep in mind the millions of Nigerians whose hopes extend beyond any single party or politician, cautioning that history has handed the opposition an opportunity it cannot afford to waste.
Background
Tinubu is seeking a second term in 2027. Whether the opposition can coalesce behind a unified strategy is widely seen as central to whether his re-election bid faces serious competition. Today’s summit is the most organised attempt yet to move that conversation from calls for unity toward a workable framework for cooperation, even as the PDP’s absence shows how far the opposition remains from speaking with one voice.
