Some prominent politicians in the country including a former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and former presidential candidate, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha yesterday met with the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja, to strategise ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The meeting, accpordig to Daily Trust, was aimed at having a united front to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led government in the next general elections.
This is coming two days after El-Rufai had denied the claim in some quarters that he was planning to dump the ruling APC for an opposition party.
The former Kaduna governor in a post on his X handle on Sunday asked Nigerians to disregard the claim.
El-Rufai posted, “Please, disregard the patent lies and rumours about my political affiliation. I have referred the lead peddlers of the fake news for further action by my lawyers.”
However, bigwigs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), APC and the SDP were part of the yesterday’s meeting.
Daily Trust reports that leaders of opposition parties have been consulting recently as part of efforts to either form a merger ahead of the 2027 election or a coalition against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Last weekend, the Mallam Shekarau led League of Northern Democrats (NLD), hinted at efforts to transform to a political party ahead of 2027.
In a post on his Facebook page, a chieftain of the PDP and ally of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Segun Showunmi, said the meeting was strategic.
He said the meeting called by the national chairman of the SDP, Shehu Gabam, had in attendance, former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; former presidential candidate, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, himself and others.
He said the meeting was called to review “The state of opposition democratic engagement in Nigeria.”
Showunmi said the meeting was to plan a stronger opposition for Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections.
