President Bola Tinubu has described those at the forefront of forming a coalition to unseat him ahead of the 2027 presidential election as persons who have been internally displaced politically.

Tinubu, who spoke at a one-day presidential state visit to Nasarawa State on Wednesday, where he inaugurated projects, urged his supporters not to pay attention to his political opponents as they were in a coalition to unseat themselves.

“Just don’t pay them any attention. They are the political IDPs. Don’t give them a home. The hope is here,” he said.

The President, however, commended the Nasarawa governor, Abdullahi Sule, for bringing development to the State.

Tinubu also pledged his administration’s support for the governor to move the state forward.

“Sule is doing well. We will support whatever Governor Sule brings about to work harder for the prosperity and renaissance of Nasarawa State. That is what we stand for.

On his part, Governor Sule appealed to the President to use his good offices to initiate full oil and gas exploration in the Obi Local Government Area, where hydrocarbons were discovered in 2023.

He also thanked Tinubu for his support of the State.

“In 2023, there was an exploration well that was going on in the Obi Local Government Area of the State. There has been a discovery of hydrocarbon in excess of one billion.

“We are asking you, Your Excellency, to ensure that they come back and drill the next exploration well, the appraisal well, and the development package so that we can start producing oil from that site,” he said.

“We are telling you that this is the best for the country. We’ll become another Saudi Arabia if we have a deep onshore operation so that we can have integrated oil and gas facilities similar to what they have in Saudi Arabia so that we can do exploration, production, refining as well as gas and power production and be able to export finished products to other countries,” he added.

Opposition coalition

Ahead of the 2027 presidential election, opposition leaders, including the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi; and a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, have been reported as being talks to form a coalition aimed at defeating the ruling All Progressives Congress.

While fielding questions on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on May 22, 2025, the spokesman of the former vice president, Paul Ibe, confirmed speculations of a planned coalition to unseat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Well, you and I know that there have been ongoing discussions between Atiku Abubakar and some opposition leaders: Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai,” Ibe said on the show.

“Yes, it’s out there in the open. Discussion is still ongoing, and at the end of that discussion, they will come out with a position and the direction that we’re going to follow based on the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.”

However, talks about the coalition gathered momentum last week when a group, the National Opposition Coalition Group (NOCG), comprising major national political figures, including a former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, reportedly went to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register its newly formed political party, All Democratic Alliance (ADA).

The group is chaired by a former Senate President, David Mark.