Let me be upfront: I have eaten Afang in his house, so this makes me kinda biased
The push for a single opposition candidate has become imperative for reasons some of which I would mention here
The incumbent is at his most powerful. This is the closest we have come as a country to a combined civilian despotism and some Monarchy
What we have today is a cross between Zaire’s Mobuto Zeze Seko and the Moroccan Monarchy, with all powers concentrated in one hand
So if you now take this and add the power of incumbency and the weakening of
democratic institutions and processes, you begin to understand exactly what we would be facing come 2027
To now worsen our situation, we now parade a motley crowd of jokers and recycled persons in opposition
The biggest joke of them all is Atiku Abubakar, who has been running for aeons and losing influence and reach each time
This time around, he continues to parade a laughable pantomime, jumping from one party to the other, running from one turbulence to the other, engaging Chief Obasanjo in a needless tussle and finally putting his feet in his mouth with the fuel subsidy poo poo
As it stands, he has seriously eroded his electoral value with the way his party was routed in the Osun state elections
As it sits, I do not know which state that would go with Atiku and his now very silent running mate, the bald Rotimi Amaechi
The final nail in the head is that some schools of thought believe that he is an underground pawn for Tinubu
Obi is not in a better position. For me, he is no longer a distraction but a tiny ant nibbling at the feet of the giant Tinubu without effect
He has lost the momentum, seeing his moral high grown wittled down, with his voice and followership dropped to a very tiny few who remain glued together by the nostalgia of the recent past when they had the Nation’s ears
His running mate can only deliver Kano, which is even shaky with the decampment of his ‘boy’ to the ruling APC as sitting Governor
Obi is these days found hanging out with loud-mouthed social media activists in Ogoja with zero electoral value but imbued with a lot of nuisance value
Obi’s voice is today at its very weakest.
It is within this backdrop and more that the push for a single opposition candidate has come up
This is not the first time in our recent political history that we have seen heavyweight politicians come together to wrestle down a principality
Today’s principality is Bola Tinubu, and he is not taking prisoners
He recently inaugurated his Campaign Council with him at the head and peopled by the heaviest politicians, with over 20 sitting Governors
The biggest Goliath ever in our recent Political history, I have not seen
Apart from the aforementioned incumbency, his influence crisscrosses almost all pockets of influence
Youths – City Boy movement, Religion – muslim/Muslim, his wife’s influence over huge Pentecostal movements, women, etc
So how do we stop him? Not that I am really interested in who emerges; what I stand against is the inevitability of the boredom of a Tinubu float to victory
I yearn for the excitement of a true challenge. The debates, the adverts, the campaigns, the mobilisation, the uncertainty on both sides, Nigerians involved in huge debates, the carnival-like atmosphere, the interest of the International world and more
What I yearn for is the colouration of the June 12 elections, where the euphoria of the competition really excited Nigerians before it was annulled
The closest we have come to that ever since is the Osun State gubernatorial elections, where charisma, grit and strong belief with people’s power delivered the needed votes
It is that charisma, the people power grit, fun and dazzling engagement that is needed to give Tinubu a fight and excite Nigerians
Of all the opposition figures fighting, I confidently will throw up Donald Duke
Donald is a brilliantly loving public figure.
His good, clean looks, his cosmopolitan outlook, his political pedigree and bridge-building capacity all stand in good stead for him.
He represents the new Nigeria that we are all yearning for – visionary, imbued with integrity, firm grasp of the issues, detribalised, and a strong bridge between the teeming restless youths and the old brigade – he understands both sides
Another thing going for him is his unblemished public persona not being dragged into murky appointments, the post office or murky alliances
Although mildly popular nationwide, he has a political branding that could easily be built and sold nationwide
His candidacy would be a clean break from the octogenerianism that has captured our leadership since Obasanjo, where we have had leaders close to 100 years old turning the Presidency into an adult crèche.
He has jumped into the race with a huge fundamental error, declaring through a little-known PRP
But this surge towards single opposition would give him the National platform to push an Obama-type run that would pull on all cluster-type voters, including celebrities with huge followership
Anything short of this would mean a definite Tinubu re-election, and we would have nobody to blame but ourselves
Tinubu for me is not such a bad prospect for a second term esp if you see the clear reforms he has taken out and their effect on the macro economy, the thinking that a continuity could lead to microeconomic benefits
So rather than waste our time with the Atiku /Obi train wreck, we just save billions of needed Naira and just announce Tinubu winner or better still, we do the right thing by taking the fight to Tinubu by giving life to a Donald Duke candidacy
The choice is on us; we would rather fight Tinubu with Donald Duke or bend down for him to continue to violate our backsides with the limp Atiku/Obi charade
Ive spoken
Come and beat me
Thank you
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: August 24, 2026
