Prof. Lai Olurode was a National Commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In this interview with ROTIMI AGBOLUAJE, the former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, said the coming together of Atiku Abukabar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) is in the interest of Nigerian voters, as they will have a clear choice between two major parties in the 2027 elections. The Professor of Sociology noted that if both gladiators want to oust the All Progressives Congress (APC) from power, nothing is too much for them to sacrifice. He also spoke on the crisis in Rivers State and the controversies surrounding the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.
A couple of days ago, Peter Obi met former Vice President Atiku Abubakar with a view to working together ahead of the 2027 polls. Do you think something reasonable will come out of that movement?
Well, in politics nothing is impossible once one group is willing to forgo its selfish interest, if what you are seeking is to access power by whatever democratic means possible. That is competitive in a democracy. Of course, there will be movement around major interests and tendencies. The opposition is anxious to stop being the out-group. The APC isn’t going to go into slumber. It can’t let the crown go easily and without a whimper. The major opposition parties, in this case, will be said to be the Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Of course, one can say that Obi was and is still a creation of the PDP. He was in the PDP for quite some time. But again, he lost out in the struggle to clinch the PDP presidential ticket.
