Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party, Donald Duke, has likened opposition parties supporting President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid to political parties that backed former military ruler Sani Abacha’s transition programme.
Duke, a former Cross River State governor made the comparison during an interview on ARISE News on Thursday, where he criticised some opposition parties for supporting Tinubu despite belonging to the opposition.
He recalled the expression “five leprous fingers”, a phrase used in Nigeria’s political history to describe the five political parties registered under Abacha’s military regime in the 1990s.
“Before I go into that, you know, you talked about the opposition, some of the opposition parties, um, supporting the president. It was reminiscent of what happened in, uh, Abacha’s transition.
“You know the five leper’s fingers? Yes. So you now have four leper’s fingers because one of the fingers has been—has dropped off,” he said.
The expression was coined by the late Chief Bola Ige, a former Oyo State governor and prominent opposition figure, to condemn the five parties established under Abacha’s transition programme.
The parties were the United Nigeria Congress Party, National Centre Party of Nigeria, Grassroots Democratic Movement, Democratic Party of Nigeria and Committee for National Consensus.
In 1998, the five parties adopted Abacha as their sole presidential candidate, a move widely criticised as an attempt to prolong military rule under civilian cover.
Abacha died on June 8, 1998, before the plan could be completed. His successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, subsequently dissolved the parties and introduced a new transition programme that led to the return to civilian rule in 1999.
Duke’s remarks come amid political realignments ahead of the 2027 general elections, with opposition figures divided over strategies to challenge Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, had confirmed that the ruling party approached opposition figures, including the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke; and Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to support Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Yilwatda said Adeleke, who belongs to the Accord Party, and Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance had agreed to work for Tinubu’s re-election.
He also said Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, had pledged to support the President in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory.
The APC subsequently inaugurated its Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election, with the party expressing confidence in Tinubu’s record and reforms.
At the inauguration in Abuja on Wednesday, Adeleke said four years was insufficient for the President’s reforms to yield results, while Soludo declared his party’s support for Tinubu’s re-election.
Wike also pledged to deliver votes for the President in Rivers State and the FCT, despite his PDP affiliation.
The campaign council’s inauguration and the endorsements from opposition figures have drawn attention to political alignments ahead of the election, with the ruling party seeking to consolidate support beyond its membership.
The debate has also revived concerns about the consequences of opposition disunity, following the 2023 presidential election in which opposition candidates, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, contested separately against Tinubu.
Tinubu, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, won the election, while Atiku ran for the Peoples Democratic Party and Obi represented the Labour Party.
Calls for opposition parties to unite ahead of 2027 have since featured prominently in political discussions, with supporters of a coalition arguing that a common candidate could improve the opposition’s chances against the ruling party.