The presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has sharply criticized opposition political factions backing President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign, comparing them to the state-controlled political parties that endorsed late military dictator General Sani Abacha’s transition scheme in the late 1990s.
Speaking on Channels Television’s flagship political program, Politics Today, Duke warned that opposition elements compromising with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are undermining democratic choice in Nigeria.
Drawing historical parallels to the Abacha regime’s five officially recognised parties, famously dubbed the “five leprous fingers of a bad hand” by the late Chief Bola Ige, Duke stated that contemporary political co-optation mirrors the dark era of military-engineered political consensus.
“It was reminiscent of what happened in Abacha’s transition,” Duke said during the interview. “You know the five leper’s fingers? Yes. So you now have four leper’s fingers because one of the fingers has dropped off.”
Duke asserted that a truly democratic political system requires a strong, independent opposition capable of offering a clear alternative to incumbent rule rather than serving as secondary campaign arms for the APC.
Addressing the fragmentation of opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections, the former Cross River State governor noted that disunity among major opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, creates an easy path for President Tinubu’s second term.
Duke emphasized that unless opposition platforms establish a cohesive, principle-based coalition, voters will be deprived of genuine democratic choices.
Responding to criticisms regarding the ruling party’s expanding coalitions, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka and National Chairman Professor Nentawe Yilwatda defended the administration’s broad political engagements.
Speaking at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, Yilwatda dismissed opposition concerns, asserting that the party’s record under President Tinubu speaks for itself and that political alliances are a natural reflection of broad-based confidence in the current administration.
