Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, has explained why the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, lack the required political capacity to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Gagdi, who said the ruling All Progressives Congress noted that the APC is far ahead of the opposition in political mobilisation, insisted that he had seen nothing to suggest that either Atiku or Obi was preparing effectively to unseat the president.

“I have never, in my political imagination, thought that my party, APC, would lose an election,” he said.

According to him, “What are the opposition doing? What are the opposition planning or doing? I have not seen, with the activities of the opposition, those you mentioned, Peter Obi or Atiku. I have not seen any effort being put in place by them to unseat or defeat the president come 2027. I would say this any day, anytime.”

Gagdi argued that the APC had maintained sustained political activities across the country, unlike opposition parties.

“You have seen APC’s activities in the last one year across Nigeria, in the four corners of Nigeria where our political activities are ten times the political activities of any opposition political party in Nigeria,” he said.

“So who is supposed to talk to another person about planning to win an election?”

The Plateau lawmaker dismissed suggestions that only opposition politicians were strategising ahead of the next general election.

“You think Bola Tinubu and the APC are not trying to win elections in 2027? Atiku and Obi have always been defeated,” he stated.

Gagdi maintained that political parties naturally prepare for elections, saying it would be wrong to suggest that only opposition politicians were planning for 2027.

“If you think they are planning, what makes you think that the APC is not planning to win elections? Are we sleeping? What planning are they doing?” he asked.

The lawmaker also accused some opposition figures of exploiting the country’s security challenges for political advantage instead of offering practical solutions.

“From the tune of some people that are supposed to be leaders of this country when they are talking about what Nigerians are passing through, you will see it from them that they seem to appreciate the situation Nigeria is going through.”

“Instead of lamenting and proffering solutions, you lament and tie it to the fact that government is defective in solving that problem just to achieve some political gain

DAILY POST reports that the African Democratic Congress and NDC have all confirmed that Atiku’s and Peter Obi’s credentials have been uploaded on the INEC portal ahead of the 2027 general elections. This means Tinubu, Atiku, and Peter Obi will have to slug it out in the 2027 election. 

The Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, has expressed concern over recurring court judgments ordering political parties’ deregistration, warning that it threatens Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.

The National Publicity Secretary of the council, Mr Martins Egbeola, spoke on Wednesday in Abuja, stating that the developments constituted a disturbing trend.

Egbeola said the judicial pronouncements, if unchecked, could weaken the country’s multi-party political system and undermine citizens’ constitutional rights to political participation and association.

He noted that the earlier judgments directing five political parties’ deregistration, alongside the recent ruling against the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, raised serious concerns about the direction of Nigeria’s democracy.

According to the IPAC spokesman, regardless of legal arguments, the cumulative effect of such judgments can undermine political pluralism, shrink democratic space, and weaken constitutional guarantees protecting citizens’ political freedoms.

He said that the developments suggested a dangerous pattern aimed at eroding Nigeria’s multi-party democracy through judicial means, cautioning against manipulation of state institutions for political interests.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the possibility that anti-democratic forces are working behind the scenes to manipulate state institutions for narrow political interests,” Egbeola said.

Egbeola therefore urged the National Judicial Council, NJC, to ensure that judges uphold judicial independence, impartiality and constitutional fidelity, preserve public confidence and ensure democratic governance in the judiciary.

“The judiciary remains the last hope of the common man and must never be perceived as a tool in the hands of politicians,” he added.