The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru, has ruled out the possibility of an opposition coalition unseating President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

The APC scribe said Tinubu is the grandmaster of coalitions and faces no threat from the opposition camp. 

Basiru added that the APC as a party is well-versed in forming alliances and is sure to cruise to victory again in the 2027 elections.

In dismissing the coalition by opposition figures such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and others, Naija News reports the APC Secretary said their alliance does not prioritize the well-being of Nigerians and is therefore deemed to fail.

“They are not forming any coalition, and if they are, President Tinubu is the grandmaster of coalitions. He is a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, which was the mother of coalitions that helped remove the military from power.

“So, how can they use a coalition to challenge the grandmaster of coalitions? Our party is also well-versed in forming alliances.

“We were the first party to form a congress made up of major political parties. Nigerians should be aware that the lies they told about winning the 2023 election are now coming to light.

“If indeed they believe they won the 2023 election, why are they talking about a coalition for 2027? They should just go back to their political parties.

“But the truth is that they lost the 2023 election, and by the grace of Almighty God, they will lose the 2027 election as well, President Tinubu of the APC will win.

“This so-called arrangement or coalition is not driven by love for Nigeria but by inordinate ambition and a sense of entitlement,” Basiru said in an interview with Punch.

The coalition of opposition politicians working to take power from President Bola Tinubu in 2027 has been “born,” DAILY POST can authoritatively report.

The coalition was born during a meeting on Tuesday night that extended into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A source who spoke to DAILY POST said the meeting had former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ex-Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and other stakeholders of the opposition coalition.

On March 20, Atiku had announced the formation of the opposition coalition.

In a press conference in Abuja, Atiku, who was flanked by Obi and El-Rufai, had said the coalition when officially launched, will oust Tinubu from power in 2027.

But, prior to yesterday’s meeting, reports said Obi was offered the Vice presidential slot during a meeting with Atiku in London, but the former Anambra State governor denied such claims.

But, speaking with DAILY POST, a highly placed source who wished to be anonymous said: “All the leaders and stakeholders of the coalition were there, they set up committees to dot the Is and cross the Ts while preparing the way for the eventual public unveiling of the coalition.

“But effectively, as we speak, the coalition has been born, the conclusion meeting took place.”

Coalition a dream, can’t work – Peter Obi’s ex-aide

The former Special Adviser to Peter Obi on Public Affairs when he was governor of Anambra State, Katchy Ononuju, said the coalition is a mere dream that will not work.

Ononuju said the outcome of the meeting will not be accepted if the presidency is not zoned to the South, with Obi as the flag bearer.

Speaking with DAILY POST, he said: “Coalition is just a dream, it’s an idea, it’s just a caucus of Atiku’s friends who are trying to preempt some PDP governors who are bent on zoning the Presidency to the South, so Atiku now gathered his people while trying to preempt what the governors will do. Before going to the meeting, they are telling you that Peter will be Vice President while Atiku will be president.

“When I and Doyin Okupe founded the Obidient Movement, we founded it out of anger, it was in reaction to the disagreement of the North to allow the zoning to bring the Presidency to the South, and that was why we left to start the youth movement.

“So, if they are talking about us coming back together to resume opposition, you must do a post mortem to ask yourself what was the foundational reason why we broke away from the party to start the youth movement, then you now have a lot of Atiku’s Caucus people trying to bring Peter back.

“I have told them that it will not work, you haven’t gotten him a ticket but you are offering him the VP slot, where is that done? That just tells you that this is a premeditated cooked up thing, it’s not going to work – take it from me, we do not accept it.

“That meeting yesterday was not just a meeting, they are telling him that Atiku will be president. What you are seeing is the caucus in the PDP that caused us to leave starting the same crisis again.

“And what we are saying is the presidency is only two years in the South, there is nothing wrong for Peter to politely attend the meeting, it’s okay but we the members of the Obidient Movement are not going to accept the premeditated attempt, we are going to wait until a decision is made by the PDP governors with regards to zoning, that is what we have accepted to do.”

Obidient Movement will work against Obi being under anybody as VP

Ononuju, who is the Director General of the Heritage Centre, a think tank focused on research into economics, politics, and opinions, said the Obidient Movement will not accept Obi to work under any candidate.

He warned that the movement will work against the coalition if it attempts to make Obi its presidential running mate.

According to Ononuju: “The movement will work against Peter Obi being subjected to anybody.

“If you notice now in the country, everybody is attacking Peter and not Atiku because they know the truth about the outcome of the last election and we are saying Buhari has done eight years for the North; we simply say it should now rotate to the South.

“What you have now are the same people you saw that formed the original league of Northern Democrats bringing their cronies from the South to try to force Peter and cajole him to accept a VP position under Atiku and we say no.

“We are not against coalition but we are against a strategy to rework the old thing that was not acceptable.

“Atiku’s desperation is not caused by Peter, he caused it and I can tell you directly from my heart that nothing will work. I’m happy you saw what happened three days ago and we won’t accept it.

“Let the governors make the pronouncement, forget what Atiku’s problems are, this is a progression of the NLD and Atiku’s Caucus members telling you that they want a coalition that would preempt the position of the governors on zoning. That Peter Obi should be VP while Atiku does president, we say no.”

Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi has alleged that some paid blackmailers are propagating negativity against him.

Obi denied having a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome over an alleged N225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank.

He described the claims as false, malicious, and baseless.

In a statement on X, Obi said he was in Rome for the lying in State of late Pope Francis and the inauguration of Leo XIV

According to Obi: “It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective.

“Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been twisted into yet another blackmail campaign by merchants paid ostensibly to propagate anything negative against Obi.

“One such individual, whose entire life revolves around blackmail, falsely claimed that I went to Rome to have a private meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding a purported ₦225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank. These claims are not only baseless, malicious, but entirely false.

“Let me categorically state that I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office, except about 1 minute meeting at the arena of Saint Peter’s Basilica Rome during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV, where I was seated behind, and had to respectfully greet him, and other dignitaries present.

“I was previously in Rome on the 9th of May for the lying in state of Pope Francis. Immediately after the mass and exchanging pleasantries, I went straight from Vatican City to London, and then back to Nigeria.

“The self-proclaimed “blackmailer-in-chief” and others who thrive on spreading pain and falsehoods have also claimed that I own Fidelity Bank. For the record, I do not. Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman/Director of 3 banks/Financial institutions, of which Fidelity is one of them.

“Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake. What this blackmailer seeks is to harm these hard-working Nigerians and cause them needless distress.

“To those peddling these falsehoods, and engaging in blackmail, I offer a simple prayer: May God grant you the virtues of gratitude and understanding to know that we came here with nothing and will go with nothing, that they cannot profit from their evil ways. A new Nigeria is POssible.”

Abia State Governor has again said that his opponents, including some officials of the immediate past administration in the State, are noise makers.

This is even as he accused the Okezie Ikpeazu administration of allegedly paying N9.8 billion to a contractor for the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road in Aba, which he said was not delivered.

Otti stated this in at Umuagbai Secondary School in Aba on Wednesday during a thanksgiving and carnival organized by the Aba community in celebration of the completion of Port Harcourt Road and other projects done by the Abia State government in Aba.

“So, listen to the response. In 2017, they awarded this Port Harcourt Road. The amount at that time was N9.8 Billion. And they paid out the entire money. But the road was not done.

‘So, when in 2025, the road cost N36.5 Billion, they started making noise. So, I said, since you people understand mathematics, the average exchange rate in 2017 was N333 to a Dollar. Now, if you apply that, the N9.8 Billion was actually USD29 million equivalent”, Otti said.

He used the event to announce that 20 electric buses, which have been procured by his administration, would be rolled out in the next two months.

Otti further rewarded a Tricycle driver in Aba, who returned N2.4 Million Naira forgotten by a passenger in his keke and commended him for the honest act.

Earlier, the convener of the carnival, Onyeka Ernest Udeajah and the State Chairman, Cooperative Motor Union, Mr. Chukwuma Azodo, respectively, said that the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road revived many collapsed businesses

Human rights activist, Hamdiyya Sidi Sharif has been found in critical condition at Bakura Hospital in Zamfara State, after being declared missing since Tuesday morning.

Her lawyer, Barrister Abba Hikima, confirmed the news in a Facebook post, stating that she is currently under the watch of security personnel.

He added that it is evident she was abducted, considering the dire condition in which she was found.

Hamdiyya was last seen after she left to buy food items in Sokoto town, and efforts to locate her had been unsuccessful until now.

Hikima called on the Zamfara State government and security agencies to ensure her safety and conduct a thorough investigation.

This development comes amid ongoing security challenges across Northwestern Nigeria

Lagos State Government has identified Ikeja, Lagos Island, and Lekki as the three areas with the highest incidence of crime within the state.

This was disclosed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN, during a ministerial press briefing held in Alausa, Ikeja, to mark the second year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office.

Citing data from the Lagos State Criminal Information System, LCIS, Pedro noted a worrying concentration of criminal activity in the state’s commercial and residential hubs.

“Between January 2024 and May 2025, the top three crime locations in Lagos State were Ikeja, Lagos Island, and Lekki,” the Attorney-General said.

Pedro further disclosed that the LCIS has documented a total of 74,962 criminal cases and inmates across Lagos State from 2018 to May 2025.

He raised concerns about the burden on the state’s correctional infrastructure, which is currently overstretched.

According to him, Lagos correctional facilities are operating at 106 percent over capacity, with a total inmate population of 9,096 as of May 2025, significantly surpassing the designed capacity.

Highlighting the role of the LCIS, Pedro described the platform as a transformative initiative designed to digitise and streamline criminal justice processes, enhance efficiency, and support data-driven policy-making

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2023 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said that his counterpart from the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is in some secret serious talks and plans to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

According to him, Tinubu will have no choice but to return to wherever he came from after the 2027 presidential election.

The renowned international lawyer and media executive said that speculations and rumours being spread on social media concerning one coalition or the other should be ignored, adding that more solid plans were going on underground.

Speaking on Channels Television, Adewole insisted that the 2027 presidential battle is for Nigerians to decide and not about defections and propaganda by politicians of like minds.

He said that what is certain was President Tinubu is not a match with Nigerian people, adding that anyone backed by Nigerian people, himself included, would defeat the incumbent leader.

He said that at the moment, Tinubu has a good trajectory to losing the 2027 presidential election and of going back to wherever he originally came from.

According to Adewole, Nigerians have given Tinubu two years to put his acts together and allowed him to experiment with some things that no government will get away with in the past, adding that with two more years to go, the President’s body language shows he needs more than prayers to succeed.

He said, “What is going on now is going on quietly. The leaders of the parties are meeting. The real people, who have control over their political structures, are meeting. It is not something that we want to discuss on the pages of newspapers, but everybody has their own style of operation.

“What we understand, and which is commonsensical political science, is that there must be one grand leader, a challenger against President Tinubu in 2027.

“That person who is the candidate must carry along a large swatch of the disadvantaged and unhappy Nigerians, politicians have many ideas about how to arrive there. The SDP is talking to people outside our party, and I think we are making a lot of progress.

“What is being reported about the personal travels of different people is not what is going on. What is going on is discussion along ideology, methodology and accommodation, and when that time is right, what we are doing must be a surprise to the government in power. There is a solid plan to unseat President Tinubu.

“But it’s not the one about a series of collateral pictures of courtesy calls. It’s underground. A lot of Nigerians are not aware.

“It’s not that if you meet somebody at the airport, you take a photo together and say, ‘yes, coalition’ that is not it. Its infantile.

“It is something that is deep, because in addition to having a genuine grounds on behalf of Nigerian people against the non performing government APC, even we who are in the position have differences, and we must work out those differences first before we can go and challenge the person who is now there.

“But if we don’t work out our differences first, clearly, we’ll later discover in the middle of the subway that we are incongruous.

“They [the APC] should be worried first about not serving Nigerians well. They should be. They shouldn’t be too worried about losing the election. They should be worried about disappointing the people.”

Asked if Peter Obi is part of this conversation that they are having, he added, “I don’t think he wants anybody to be talking about what he’s doing, because he appears to have more discipline than other people.

“So you don’t see him. He goes away. Peter Obi goes quietly. He has meetings with people he doesn’t expose to the media. He’s a highly disciplined person. He knows what he’s doing. He has his own plan. I’m working with anybody who loves Nigeria.”

Asked if he will be able to step down for Peter Obi, for the interest of Nigeria, Adewole added, “that will come later, but for what I see, I like what he’s doing, he hasn’t said he doesn’t like what I’m doing. He’s serious minded. He is having meaningful discussion, quiet discussion, honorable discussion, not that I have a discussion with you, and I go to tea on Tiktok, as I put it in there.”

The Social Democratic Party, SDP, has said that former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was not representing it in the coalition talks being held ahead of the 2027 election.

DAILY POST reports that after his fallout with the presidency, El-Rufai dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for the SDP in March.

The immediate past governor of Kaduna State has since been campaigning for an opposition coalition to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu and the ruling party in 2027.

El-Rufai, as a member of the SDP, is said to have been reaching out to other opposition politicians and other political leaders in the country to join him in the party to form an alliance against the APC.

However, the 2023 SDP’s presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, has distanced the SDP from El-Rufai’s coalition campaign, saying the party was not in any coalition talks led by someone else.

Adebayo said that the leadership of the party has not assigned anyone to speak or negotiate on its behalf.

While speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, Adebayo said, “The SDP is not involved in any coalition led by somebody else, but I can tell you, and the SDP is led by Alh. Shehu Gabam and Olu Agunloye, he has not given me an assignment to do coalition on his behalf. He’s not given any assignment to my senior brother, El-Rufai. El-Rufai is not representing SDP in any coalition.”

When asked if the SDP is entering a coalition, Adebayo said the party is waiting, planning and considering options.

“The SDP is waiting, is expressing its own understanding of how best it will come together and remove this person and cause the APC and non performing president called Bola Tinubu.

“The SDP has plans, and we are looking at various options. And we realize that at the end of the option, we will need a political party that is viable,” he added.

Recall that in April, Adebayo said El-Rufai and other opposition parties who joined the SDP would not be allowed to hijack the party for personal fight against President Tinubu.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has in strong terms rejected comments made by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.

It dismissed his critique of the party as ‘misguided, politically bitter, and irrelevant.’

The PDP stated that it neither seeks nor requires Lawal’s validation to shape its future or Nigeria’s political direction.

This came on Wednesday in Abuja, where the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, through his Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Yusuf Dingyadi, addressed Lawal’s remarks.

DAILY POST reports that during an appearance on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, Lawal had described the PDP as having an ‘incurable virus’ and declared it a no-go area for any opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a rebuttal, the PDP said, “While Mr. Lawal is entitled to his personal opinions, we wish to make it categorically clear that the PDP does not seek, nor is it begging, for his support or validation in shaping the future of our party or the political direction of this country.”

The opposition party stressed its status as Nigeria’s most experienced, nationally rooted and enduring political party, capable of weathering storms and rescuing the country from the failings of the current administration.

The party equally questioned Lawal’s political relevance, noting that his tenure in public office is remembered more for controversies than for impactful contributions.

“The same cannot be said of Mr. Babachir Lawal, whose tenure in public office is remembered more for controversies than for impact.

“Rather than being an asset, his political antecedents portray him more as a liability to any serious political project,” Damagum said.

The PDP reaffirmed its focus on rebuilding, reuniting and repositioning itself for victory in 2027, emphasizing its openness to constructive alliances based on shared values and institutional integrity.

It dismissed Lawal’s comments as a desperate attempt to remain relevant in national discourse and urged its members, supporters, and the general public to ignore them.

The party reiterated its commitment to restoring hope, rebuilding the nation, and reclaiming leadership for the benefit of all Nigerians

Former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party PDP, Adewole Adebayo says he will not step down for former vice president, Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 election.

Adebayo disclosed this on Wednesday night during an interview on Channels TV following speculation that Atiku may use SDP as platform to run for the 2027 presidential election.

He clarified that Atiku or any other politicians can only join the party and follow due processes to secure the party’s ticket.

He said, “I will not step down for Atiku Abubakar and he has not said that anybody should step down for him.

“Neither me nor Atiku Abubakar can use the SDP. The party belongs to the Nigerian people, nobody can use it.

“What can happen is that those who believe in the ideology of the party can come to the party. We are not available to be used, if you want to join us, you can join us”.

DAILY POST reports that opposition bigwigs have resolved to come together via a coalition to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the coming election.

Atiku, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai are the notable figures spearheading the movement