2027 elections: Atiku, Obi, others should stop chasing shadows – APC chieftain

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state, Seye Oladejo, has urged the presidential candidates of the opposition parties to stop chasing shadows, saying that no convincing reason to believe they were in the race for 2027 general elections.

Oladejo, who is the immediate past publicity secretary of APC in Lagos state noted in a statement that the major opposition parties did not have a structure that could guarantee their success in a poll.

He explained that African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) who were the major political parties did not have the national spread that could guarantee their success across the country.

Oladejo explained that elections were won by people and structures.

“They are won by people, structures, candidates, organisation, mobilisation and votes.

“A presidential candidate may attract enormous attention in the nation’s capital, but the political architecture required to win a national election is built from the wards upward.

“You cannot win what you cannot contest,” the APC chieftain said.

He further said, “if the ADC and NDC are truly the formidable political alternatives they claim to be, where are the aspirants? Where are the party loyalists who believe strongly enough in their platforms to put their names, reputations, resources and political careers on the line?

“Elections are not won on social media.

“They are not won through press conferences, television appearances, hashtags or the multiplication of political alliances in Abuja,” the statement read.

He stated that the opposition parties had spent considerable time building an impression of an impending political earthquake ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“Their rhetoric is loud, their projections are ambitious and their confidence appears limitless.

“But when one looks beyond the noise and examines the fundamentals of electoral politics, a rather curious picture emerges.”

He added that reports indicated that Atiku Abubakar of the ADC had no governorship candidate in eight states, while Peter Obi’s NDC had no governorship candidate in 12 states.

“One is compelled to ask: how serious can a political party be about capturing power when it cannot even produce members willing to fly its flag for elective offices across a significant number of states?

“This is not merely a question of numbers. It is a question of political organisation, grassroots acceptance and confidence in the platform.

“A party that aspires to win the presidency must first demonstrate that it has a functioning political structure capable of competing across the federation.

“The contradiction is difficult to ignore the opposition would have Nigerians believe that the ruling All Progressives Congress is facing an existential political challenge.

“Yet, in several states, these same opposition platforms apparently cannot find candidates to contest governorship elections.That contradiction deserves interrogation,” the statement read.