This is as the key players in the 2023 presidential election, including Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, have been seen making permutations ahead of the next general election.
Is Tinubu a career politician? Since he resumed office, Tinubu has been accused of focusing more on the 2027 election than governance.
Rilwan Olanrewaju, a chieftain of the PDP, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, described the president as a career politician who pays more attention to politics than governance.
He said: "Tinubu already abandoned bringing development to Nigeria. He’s focused on politics and 2027, which is bad for average Nigerians. It’s always an error to have a career politician as the president because the primary focus will be politics, not governance."
Why Tinubu, Kwankwaso will have no opposition
Tinubu and Rabiu Kwankwaso could be certain of securing the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2027.
Obi, on the other side, appeared to have a dangling fate with the Labour Party in a leadership crisis and the rumour that he was planning to ally with the former governor of Kaduna state, Nasiru El-Rufai, to contest under the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
On Atiku, the question is will the former vice president get the PDP presidential ticket in 2027? There are indications that Atiku could still secure the leading opposition tickets despite the criticism and division he created ahead of the 2023 election in the party.
Some of the reasons Atiku could secure the ticket are listed below.
Atiku's Political network
Being the former vice president for eight years who served on the return of democracy in 1999, Atiku still has the strongest political network in the PDP. This could boost his chances of securing the party's ticket in the 2027 election.
Atiku remains the strongest voice of the PDP when it comes to opposition speaking against the government of Tinubu and the APC. His criticism and comments have always attracted responses and reactions from the ruling party.
Wike and Obi are out of PDP
One major challenge confronting the PDP in the 2023 election was ruling out the southern bloc from the structure and scheme of things since the emergence of Atiku as its presidential candidate. This made many of them work against the party, including Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers state and current minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Some of them left the party, such as Obi, who went ahead to contest on the Labour Party platform and pulled a significant crowd.
Thus, the absence of Wike and Obi in the PDP would be a strong opportunity for Atiku to secure the ruling party's presidential ticket for another time.
Atiku Staying online
Atiku appeared to have realised his previous mistake of going silent after the election, as his presence is always felt on social media. The foot soldiers of Atiku are always seen on social media, passing daily comments on government policies and actions.
This was unlike before when the former vice president was accused of turning Dubai into his home as soon as the election ended.