Opposition coalition against President Bola Tinubu is likely to collapse due to internal disunity, credibility issues among its promoters, and Nigerians’ distrust of their past leadership, according to The Nation.
Dr. Umar Tanko Yakasai, Director-General of the Tinubu Support Group (TSG), said many of the figures pushing for a coalition were responsible for past governance failures, particularly during the 16-year rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Yakasai argued that the same actors seeking power again had once disappointed the electorate when they held public office.
“In Nigeria, we have seen that after every election, the losers tend to cry the loudest, even when they performed abysmally when given the opportunity to serve the people,” Yakasai said. “What APC has come to do is to clear the mess of past misgovernance by the Peoples Democratic Party for 16 years.”
He referenced several controversies from the PDP era, including the disappearance of $16 billion meant for power infrastructure and the unresolved Halliburton bribery case, in which a U.S. senator was convicted but Nigerian collaborators were not prosecuted.
Yakasai said these scandals contribute to public skepticism about the opposition’s ability to lead effectively. He added that opposition parties lack a clear, unifying agenda beyond their ambition to retake power.
He warned that any coalition of such fragmented groups would fail to agree on critical issues and would eventually splinter due to conflicting interests.
“Coalitions come together quickly over shared interests,” he said, “but when it’s time to agree on principles, they naturally fall apart. Many of their members have already been defecting to the APC.”
Addressing concerns about one-party dominance in Nigeria, Yakasai noted that political migration happens in all directions within a functioning democracy.
He praised President Tinubu’s recent economic measures, arguing that the government has taken bold steps lacking in previous administrations.
Key among these measures are the fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria and the unification of foreign exchange rates—moves Yakasai described as long overdue.
He explained that ending the fuel subsidy helped plug financial leaks that diverted public funds into private hands.
“The first major achievement of this administration is to do away with the unsustainable fuel subsidy that became a monster consuming resources; billions of Naira that would have been used for national development but ended up in the pockets of a few individuals,” he said.
Yakasai also said that streamlining the forex market closed off opportunities for round-tripping, where politically connected individuals exploited gaps in the dual exchange rate system for personal gain.
He concluded by stating that Bola Tinubu’s reforms reflect a deliberate effort to rebuild public trust and stabilize Nigeria’s economy, contrasting sharply with what he described as the PDP’s corruption scandals and policy inconsistencies.
Article updated 3 weeks ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
