The National Consultative Front (NCFront), led by Prof Pat Utomi, has said the focus of the former Vice-President, Atiku Abubukar, former governors of Anambra State, Peter Obi and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso was not contesting the 2027 presidential election, but how to build a formidable political party that would rescue Nigeria from the grips of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a statement by its acting spokesperson, Mallam Hamisu San Turaki, the group said the insinuation in the Media that leading opposition leaders were already jostling to run for the Nigerian presidency in the 2027 poll was absolutely false.

Media reports last week claimed Atiku and Obi were jostling to position themselves for the next presidential election, where they would emerge as the presidential candidates of their respective political parties.

According to the statement, “The NCFront therefore states categorically that the current erroneous view in the media is a panicky and mischievous agenda of hatchet jobbers to divide the opposition and frustrate `the merger proposal for leading opposition parties mooted by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar before it takes off, knowing full well that the unity of the opposition in Nigeria will, without stress, defeat and overthrow the present flip flop governance and wrongheaded policies of the present Tinubu-led APC Administration.

“For the avoidance of doubt, leading Opposition Leaders and Parties in Nigeria are at the moment not focused on contesting political offices in 2027 but presently holding consultations on how to streamline and strengthen their political forces to be able to rescue the country from the dangerous slide into misrule and anarchy foisted by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government.”

It said their collaboration was also address the “exploitative economic policies which has landed millions of households and citizens in Nigeria into abject poverty and penury, making the renewed hope mantra of the Tinubu Government, a mere consolidation of the rudderless policies of despair and hopelessness of the Buhari regime.

“We wish to inform Nigerians that a Merger Facilitation Group of key opposition leaders led by Prof Pat Utomi is now set to convene the inaugural meeting of the merger process of leading opposition parties aimed at building a major mega political party of the Nigerian people to rescue Nigeria by checkmate and dislodging the unpopular and self serving rule of the APC government. The inaugural meeting is scheduled to hold this month.”

But the PDP has dissociated itself from the coalition of opposition political parties.

In a full page advertorial placed late December 2023, the party said contrary to misleading reports in a section of the media, it was not engaged in any merger, fusion or amalgamation with any other political party.

The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said, “The PDP is a party governed by rules, completely dedicated to its values, manifesto, guiding principles and has no intent or any contemplation whatsoever to merge with any other political Party.”