By Ayorinde Oluokun
The presidential candidates of Accord, African Action Congress, AAC, and Social Democratic Party, SDP have resolved to align their political forces towards presenting Nigerians with a joint democratic alternative in 2027.
The three candidates, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim of Accord; Mr. Omoyele Sowore of AAC; and Prince Adewole Adebayo of SDP, reached the agreement at a meeting held over the weekend in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
The three candidate who met to deliberate on the state of Nigeria’s democracy, economy and security warned that with the concentration of political power, weakening of democratic institutions and shrinking space for genuine political competition, Nigeria risked moving from competitive multi-party democracy towards what they described as “a coronation disguised as an election.”
The three candidates pledged to defend Nigeria’s multi-party system and reject political monopolisation.
“A democracy without meaningful opposition is merely an electoral ritual,” they said.
They also affirmed their commitment to the constitutional right of Nigerians to form political parties, contest elections, disagree with government and offer alternative programmes without intimidation.
While also declaring that national unity must be founded on justice and inclusion, the opposition candidates said: “Unity cannot be built by suppressing differences; it must be built by guaranteeing justice within diversity.’’
They described the proposed alliance as an attempt to develop a credible governing alternative based on democratic accountability, economic justice, security, institutional reform, social inclusion and national development.
They therefore vowed to align their political forces to mobilise workers, youths, women, professionals, entrepreneurs, civil society organisations and Nigerians across ethnic, religious, regional and political divides for the 2027 election.
They also said the decision on structure, modalities and presidential candidate of the proposed alliance will be solely made by them.
But they said they will ensure that ‘the larger national interest take precedence over individual political ambitions,” in arriving at the choice of the candidate.
The three presidential candidates asked the Federal Government to review of cases involving Nigerians detained or imprisoned over political expression, self-determination advocacy or the peaceful exercise of constitutionally protected rights.
In this vein, they advocated for the immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, whose agitation had centred on the political rights and aspirations of Igbo people, and Bichia Maisango, whom they identified as an advocate of Hausa Zallah cultural rights.
The candidates also called for an end to what they described as the legal and political persecution of Omoyele Sowore over his political activities.
“Democratic societies must accommodate dissent and peaceful disagreement,” they said.
They also called on the international community, democratic governments, regional institutions and international democracy and human-rights organisations to closely monitor Nigeria’s democratic trajectory.
They also expressed worries over what they described as attempts by individuals within the security architecture, electoral institutions, judiciary, legislature and executive to weaken opposition parties, manipulate public institutions and frustrate genuine political competition.
They urged international partners to document credible evidence of democratic reversals and consider targeted sanctions, including visa restrictions and other lawful measures, against individuals credibly established to have participated in such activities.
“Nigeria’s multi-party democracy must be preserved. No individual, political party, security agency, electoral official or institution is bigger than the Nigerian Constitution,” they declared.
The leaders also condemned the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, particularly fuel subsidy removal and currency devaluation.
They said the policies had contributed to rising living costs, declining purchasing power, unemployment and widespread economic hardship.
They therefore advocated for urgent economic reforms, including substantial salary reviews towards a genuine living wage, stronger domestic production, investment promotion, job creation and measures to reduce inflation.
To tackle the problems of insecurity, the candidates demanded a proactive strategy built around intelligence, technology, adequately equipped security forces, community cooperation, economic opportunity and effective prosecution.
They condemned what they described as appeasement, selective enforcement and political complicity that enabled violent groups to operate with impunity.
