2027 Merger Talks Not Valid Without Party Leaders — NNPP Founder Aniebonam

Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, has dismissed the ongoing 2027 opposition coalition talks led by former presidential candidates, stating that such negotiations are invalid without the involvement of political party leadership.

Aniebonam made this known in a statement reacting to recent merger discussions involving prominent contenders from the 2023 presidential election, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and others.

He argued that Nigeria’s political system does not recognize individual candidacy, stressing that only political parties have the authority to field presidential candidates.

“We do not have individual candidacy in Nigeria. All presidential candidates emerge from a political party, and it is the parties that determine who will be their flag bearer,” Aniebonam said.

He warned that coalition efforts undertaken without formal endorsement from party structures are unlikely to succeed.

“The ongoing meetings and negotiations here and there cannot make valid meanings if they fail to carry the leadership of their various political parties along,” he stated.

Aniebonam noted that party members and leaders are the true custodians of political parties, and their exclusion from coalition talks renders such moves ineffective.

“It is inappropriate to assume that when they enter their coalition, the members will automatically agree with the idea,” he said. “So you can see that all the negotiations here and there will not make any difference for people who are not even sure of getting tickets of their parties.”

He further observed that former presidential candidates who lost in the 2023 election no longer hold leadership positions in their respective parties, as that authority resides with elected officials and the party machinery.

“For emphasis, it is only President Bola Tinubu, who won the 2023 presidential election, that is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he said.

Aniebonam emphasized that following the conclusion of post-election litigations by the Supreme Court, the leadership of the PDP, Labour Party, NNPP, and other opposition parties must now be defined by current officeholders and official party structures—not by former candidates.

However, he revealed that the NNPP remains open to strategic alliances with other like-minded parties ahead of 2027, if the need arises.

“The NNPP might decide to go into a technical alliance with sister political parties of similar ideology in 2027 if there is need to do so,” Aniebonam concluded.