2027: Tinubu to win again if Atiku, Obi stay divided, says Duke

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has predicted that President Bola Tinubu will win re-election in 2027 if the leading opposition candidates fail to unite, Vanguard reports.

Duke said the split opposition vote between Atiku Abubakar of the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) and Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), could repeat the 2023 outcome and hand Tinubu an advantage.

He spoke on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Wednesday while discussing the opposition’s chances in the 2027 presidential election. According to him, the opposition will struggle to defeat the ruling party if the major contenders keep pursuing separate bids.

“We don’t understand what we’re doing,” he said, pointing to the United States, whose system Nigeria largely copied. He noted that if the Democrats were fragmented into two or three parties, the Republicans would “remain in office forever.” “That’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Duke said divisions among major opposition figures in 2023 scattered the votes. “All the major opposition came from PDP,” he said, citing Atiku, Obi (then in Labour) and Kwankwaso, who all ran separately.

The former Cross River State governor partly blamed the difficulty of forging a common opposition platform on the “large egos” of the leading contenders.

He said the opposition figures appear confident about 2027 but could be disappointed if they fail to work together. “They’re preparing for inauguration. They think they’re going to win. I have news for them. They’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Duke added that he did not see any of the leading opposition candidates winning if the opposition stays divided. “If I look at a crystal ball, what I see in that crystal ball is not them. I see another horror coming up,” he said.

Asked directly whether his prediction meant Tinubu would win the 2027 election, Duke replied, “Absolutely.”