Opposition chieftain Alhaji Buba Galadima has delivered one of the most striking declarations of the emerging 2027 campaign season, saying that any candidate — alive or dead — could defeat President Bola Tinubu at the polls.
“Even if there is no living human being in Nigeria and we bring a corpse in a coffin and put it against President Tinubu, I assure you that that corpse will win the election in 2027,” Galadima said to applause on Tuesday at the African Democratic Congress national convention in Abuja.
The former ally of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari used the occasion to commend the ADC for proceeding with its convention despite what he described as deliberate attempts by the federal government to frustrate the event.
Galadima alleged that the venue for the convention was nearly pulled at the last minute after its owner was threatened with the revocation of his Certificate of Occupancy if he allowed the gathering to proceed.
“Yesterday around 1 a.m., we got a message that this venue was actually cancelled because the owner was threatened by the powers that be,” he said, adding that the organisers resolved to hold the event regardless of the pressure.
“The person with whom I was sitting asked me for my opinion, and my opinion was simply that even if Abuja will burn to ashes today, we will hold this convention in this hall. And so we did,” Galadima declared.
He framed the successful hosting of the convention as proof of the opposition’s resilience, but cautioned that more restrictive measures could follow.
“This is a test ground. Have we not held this convention today here? They may not even allow us to campaign in Nigeria,” he warned.
Galadima also accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of orchestrating a systematic campaign to weaken opposition parties ahead of 2027, naming the Peoples Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party, Labour Party, and the ADC itself as targets.
“We have seen that the APC and its government have tried to destroy the PDP, the SDP, the NNPP, the Labour Party, and indeed the ADC,” he said.
The opposition figure urged political actors to resist any attempts to dictate the direction of opposition politics in the country, saying boldness and resolve were the only tools available to those seeking a change of government.
“Any attempt to intimidate or to frustrate us, we must stand and say no. It is only our resilience, boldness, and courage that will deliver us,” he said.
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