A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, has said it will be impossible for the opposition coalition to produce a single presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that Falae stated this on Friday during an appearance on Channels TV’s Inside Sources.
The elder statesman said the ambitions and political calculations of opposition leaders would make a consensus candidate difficult to achieve.
“One thing I learnt in politics is that once a man decides to run for a public office, in most cases he becomes absolutely unreasonable, impervious to reasoning, ego takes over. Nobody will step down for anyone,” he said.
He added that the inability of opposition parties to unite would favour President Bola Tinubu’s reelection bid.
“So, this means a weakened opposition, and it makes it very easy for the incumbent to win reelection because I don’t think any of the opposition parties alone can win the election,” he said.
Falae also criticised political parties’ adoption of consensus arrangements, saying internal democracy must be allowed to thrive.
“My view about consensus arrangement is that genuine democracy should be practiced within the party and within the country. Consensus should not be a policy; it can be practised if occasions demand it, but not as a general policy.
“Consensus is another name for imposition. I will argue very seriously that the parties should allow democracy to thrive in their deliberations and decisions because if you don’t practise democracy in your party, you can’t go into government and start practicing democracy,” he added.
Falae Condemns Money Politics
The former presidential candidate also warned against the monetisation of politics, saying elections should be driven by ideas, competence and public trust.
“As a civil servant, I never had money. I had enough to feed myself and train my children, but nothing available to prosecute a presidential election,” he said.
Recalling his 1999 presidential campaign, Falae said, “What I did was organise a fundraising dinner at Eko Le Meridien and we raised about ₦850m that night. I added my own ₦10m or ₦15m that I had and that was all I spent in that election.”
“This is the model which I believe in, issues-dominated politics, not politics dominated entirely by money.
“As long as money is the critical determinant of success, so long are we going to get governments that are not what we expect,” he warned.