By Okoi Obono-Obla
On 18th October 2026, when I appeared on Arise TV to discuss the state of the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections, I described the much-vaunted talk of a rainbow coalition producing a single presidential candidate as a comic relief. Events of the last 48 hours have vindicated that position.
On Sunday, 19th October 2026, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), issued a strongly worded statement that his party, fielding the Peter Obi/Kwankwaso ticket — the so-called “OK ticket” — will not withdraw for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) or any other party.
Kwankwaso was responding to the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, which had accused him of advancing President Bola Tinubu’s interest by calling on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to step down. The ADC-PCC, through Kola Ologbondiyan, described Kwankwaso’s intervention as self-serving and divisive.
Kwankwaso’s reply was unequivocal: “Let me state clearly and unequivocally: we will not withdraw our candidature for the ADC or any other party. We remain confident in our capacity, competence, and readiness to lead Nigeria.” He further warned supporters against last-minute fake news that the NDC had stepped down, stressing that “the OK ticket is neither working for nor acting on behalf of the APC or any of its candidates.”
That public spat is not a mere disagreement. It exposes the escalating division within the opposition and puts a spanner in the works of the proposal being marketed by my friend, Salihu Lukman Mohammed.
The Lukman Proposal
Salihu Lukman, former National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the APC and now convener of the G100 political pressure group, has been going round television stations, including Channels TV’s Hard Copy, with an attractive proposition: that the opposition, now beyond six parties, will present a single presidential candidate to challenge President Tinubu and the APC in 2027, possibly just days to the election.
It is a proposal that sounds politically astute but is constitutionally and legally dead upon arrival.
No Legal Basis for Alliance
Under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2026 which has repealed and replaced the Electoral Act, 2022, there is no provision for an “alliance,” “coalition” or “rainbow coalition” where political parties retain their separate identities, logos, constitutions and manifestos but adopt a common presidential candidate.
The law knows only one mechanism for parties to come together: merger, as provided for in Sections 81 to 84 of the Electoral Act, 2026.
For a merger to be valid, each merging party must have resolutions of its National Executive Committee and National Convention approving the merger; must surrender its certificate of registration, name, acronym, logo, symbol, constitution and manifesto; and must jointly apply to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for registration as a new party. INEC then withdraws the old parties and registers the new entity. That was how the APC was formed in 2013 from ACN, CPC, ANPP and a faction of APGA.
What Lukman and others are proposing has no basis in law. INEC does not transfer votes from a party that withdraws to another party. A withdrawn candidate’s votes simply vanish. Furthermore, Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2026 now criminalizes dual membership of political parties, with a fine of N10 million and up to two years imprisonment. You cannot be a member of ADC and NDC at the same time, nor can you be a candidate of two parties.
In short, unless Atiku’s ADC coalition and Obi/Kwankwaso’s NDC collapse their structures, surrender their logos, and merge into one party before INEC’s deadline, the single-candidate promise is a legal impossibility.
A Division That Has Blown Open
Kwankwaso’s statement therefore does more than reject withdrawal. It destroys the very mechanism Lukman’s plan depends upon — the last-minute step-down.
When the opposition’s two leading blocs are publicly accusing each other of working for the APC, of mischief, and of planning fake withdrawal news on the eve of election, the trust required for any negotiation collapses.
The whole project was therefore dead upon arrival. It was, as I said on Arise TV, comic relief.
Signifying Nothing
It reminds me of William Shakespeare in Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5:
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
The talk of a rainbow coalition producing a common candidate is precisely that: a tale told by politicians, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing legally, constitutionally or practically. It serves only to ease the building tension in this early electioneering period and will soon fizzle out when INEC publishes the final list of candidates.
The opposition would do better to prepare to test its popularity individually before the Nigerian people, rather than feed the public with an alliance that has no legal legs to stand on.
