ABUJA — Capitalizing on the escalating structural cracks within Nigeria’s opposition factions, the Senator representing Edo North, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has declared that the bitter internal divisions among opposition heavyweights will hand the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) an easy ride to victory in the 2027 general elections.

Appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s flagship political program, Politics Today, the former National Chairman of the APC Mocked the opposition’s fragmented structure. He stated that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has inadvertently transformed into the ruling party’s “best campaign manager” due to his persistent public attacks on fellow opposition leader and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.

Oshiomhole noted that the current political landscape has degenerated into a crossfire of mutual mudslinging, with Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, aggressively pulling down each other’s political credibility rather than building a unified front to challenge the incumbent administration.

The Fragmented Front: Deconstructing the Opposition Infighting

Mocking the possibility of a formidable opposition merger, the vocal lawmaker questioned the political leverage of the factions currently positioning themselves against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

"You mean that APC would be worried about which of the parties now... ADC?" Oshiomhole scoffed. "I saw Atiku. Atiku is now our best campaign manager because he is busy attacking Obi, and I see Obi attacking Amaechi. I see Amaechi saying Obi is merely a regional player, Atiku is a regional player, and that he is the only true national player. Yet, Amaechi didn’t bother to tell us what his own local ward polling unit looks like."

The Edo North Senator expressed absolute confidence that the opposition would be "defeated flatly" at the 2027 polls, irrespective of whatever last-minute coalition or mega-party alignment they manage to stitch together. He accused the opposition top tier of being ideologically hollow and united solely by a desperate, self-serving desire to capture state power rather than introducing tangible, alternative governance blueprints for the country.

Oshiomhole challenged the opposition to state clearly what alternative fiscal or socio-economic remedies they would present to the Nigerian electorate.

"The opposition can have their dreams, but nobody believes them," he maintained. "They have to speak to the new policies currently on the ground. They must tell Nigerians explicitly which ones they would reverse—whether they plan to reverse taxation, reverse the fuel subsidy removal, scrap student loans, or undo any of those bold, structural decisions that President Tinubu has courageously taken to re-engineer our economy."

The 2027 Landscape: Mergers, Defections, and APC's Automatic Pass for Tinubu

The current political chessboard highlights the deep fractures within the opposition camps. Initially, prominent political figures including Atiku Abubakar (who placed second in the 2023 polls under the PDP), Peter Obi (Labour Party), Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP), and Rotimi Amaechi had initiated low-level talks to build a formidable alliance under the umbrella of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

However, that tentative coalition collapsed rapidly. Citing endless, crippling internal litigations within the ADC, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso pulled out of the arrangement, migrating their machinery to the newly active Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) to pursue their respective presidential ambitions. Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi have remained within the ADC framework. With party primaries looming on the horizon, it remains highly uncertain which faction will eventually field a candidate against the ruling party.

While the opposition scrambles to sort out its internal identity crises, the APC has moved swiftly to solidify its baseline internal cohesion. In a major administrative maneuver, the ruling party officially waived the screening requirement for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the upcoming presidential primary elections.

Announcing the resolution following the 188th meeting of the party's National Working Committee (NWC), APC National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, stated that the top-tier administrative organ had bypassed the vetting protocol for the incumbent.

Morka explained that the NWC “deemed him as duly and fully screened in accordance with the Constitution of the Party for the purpose of absolute participation in the upcoming primary elections.” This tactical waiver cements Tinubu’s grip on the ruling party’s 2027 ticket, ensuring the incumbent faces no internal friction or primary obstacles while his political rivals remain locked in a multi-party war of attrition.