A former All Progressives Congress National Vice-Chairman, Salihu Lukman, has revealed that he suspended his membership of the party out of frustration over what he described as the failure of opposition leaders to unite ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Lukman, who spoke on Arise News’ The Morning Show on Friday, said the opposition risks repeating the mistakes of the 2023 elections if leaders continue to prioritise personal ambitions over building a united platform capable of challenging the ruling APC.
He said that although the recent Court of Appeal judgment clearing the ADC and other parties to participate in the 2027 elections came as a relief, it did not address the deeper problem confronting the opposition. As an advocate for opposition unity from the outset, he explained, his original goal roughly two years ago had been twofold: to get opposition leaders working together, and to build a party structure capable of holding elected leaders accountable.
Lukman’s comments come about two weeks after he announced the suspension of his membership of the ADC and the opposition coalition, citing internal frustrations. In a message addressed to the ADC National Chairman, Senator David Mark, and copied to coalition leaders, he alleged that he had faced sustained hostility and political marginalisation from certain party leaders in Kaduna State, particularly former Governor Nasir El-Rufai and his associates.
He expressed concern that the opposition was drifting back toward the same missteps that defined 2023, warning that even if a viable party emerges from the ongoing judicial process, simply repeating past approaches while hoping for a different outcome would be unrealistic.
He argued that Nigerians were searching for a credible alternative capable of delivering accountable leadership amid deepening economic and social hardship, and suggested that the opposition’s failure to resolve its internal differences could end up strengthening the APC’s position ahead of the next election. He noted that elections are supposed to generate competition capable of producing better leadership, but that as a nation, that outcome currently looks unlikely.
Lukman further explained that his decision to step back from ADC membership stemmed from frustration with the direction opposition politics had taken, stressing that he was not speaking as an ADC member but as someone who had suspended that membership roughly two weeks earlier because of serious unresolved challenges within the coalition.
He indicated, however, that he remained open to returning to the party if doing so would help bring opposition leaders together, and insisted that any coalition formed ahead of 2027 should be built not around individual ambition but around objective criteria for selecting the strongest candidate to challenge the APC — regardless of which party that candidate ultimately comes from — as long as the process convinces everyone involved that it was fairly arrived at.
He also criticised opposition leaders for failing to offer Nigerians a clear alternative vision beyond simply removing the APC from power, arguing that a credible opposition needs to centre its message on policy, accountability and concrete mechanisms for ensuring elected officials follow through on their promises — including clear declarations of policy commitments and systems to keep future leaders regulated and accountable once in office.
Lukman added that he and other concerned stakeholders had already begun consultations aimed at pushing opposition leaders back to the negotiating table, maintaining that the priority now should be rescuing the country rather than accommodating individual political ambitions.
