SDP, PDP, LP Joined Together Can’t Defeat APC In 2027 – Etta

Former Acting National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Hillard Etta, has dismissed the capacity of opposition political parties to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Naija News reports that Etta said the defection of Nasir El-Rufai would not undermine the chances of APC in 2027.

In an interview with Arise News on Saturday, he explained that the former Kaduna State Governor only supported President Tinubu in 2023 when he was convinced that he was the one that would win the election.

The APC chieftain said the coming together of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi would not undermine the party’s victory, noting that APC defeated Atiku and Obi’s ticket in 2019.

“In 2019, we had Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi on the same ticket, and the same APC defeated these gentlemen. Let me say that in 2023, with all the noise that is in the media today, we lost our election in Kaduna State. In fact, I think we barely had about 27% of the votes in Kaduna State when El-Rufai was in charge of Kaduna State. So there are so many things.

“Remember that E-Rufai told us that the reason that he supported Bola Tinubu was that he saw Tinubu as the one that was able to win the election. Now, before he joined the bandwagon, because what it meant is that he saw that Asiwajju was going to win the election before he joined the bandwagon. Now, there were people on the ground who made that possible, who made the possibility of an Asiwaju presidency inevitable before he joined the bandwagon. So those people are still there. In fact, we have more of those people in Nigeria today.

“Now, you are talking about all of them coming together. We actually are praying that they should come together. But you see, wishes are not horses in politics. Wishes are not horses. Most of them, a lot of them, without having to ask, a lot of them would like to throw their hats into the presidential elections in 2027. We beggar to believe that they will hardly find a common ground to be able to have a ticket that will face the APC,” he said.

APC Is Studying Political Environment

The former APC National Chairman explained that the party was observing the political environment ahead of the 2027 election.

He, however, argued that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not form a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Labour Party (LP)

“Having said so, the APC must not take what is happening politically for granted. And it can be sure that our party will not take what is happening for granted. We are going to do, we are doing our work. We are a studious party. We are a party that believes in research. We are a party that believes in studying the political environment, finding solutions to the challenges of that environment. I am very sure that the party is doing, is on top of the job, is on top of the issues.

“You see, the media people are really the people that are doing all of these permutations. So, today is Labour, another day is PDP. I want to believe that the PDP is the strongest opposition party in Nigeria. So, are we to now believe that the party is going to abandon its ideas, abandon what its founding fathers had projected it to be to Nigeria, to now go into coalition with small parties like SDP, the Labour Party, and those other parties. Well, we are yet to see all of that,” he stated.