•Falana, Utomi and Ezekwesili
There are plans by Nigerian professor of political economy and management expert, Professor Pat Utomi and his colleagues in the Movement for Credible Elections, MCE, to mobilise presidential candidates of all the registered political parties in the country ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This was revealed in a memo sighted by The Frontier today and signed by Head of National Secretariat of MCE, Comrade Olawale Okunniyi, popularly known as Veteran Che.
According to the memo, the plan was the fallout of an earlier meeting of the group held on Friday, July 31, 2027.
The earlier meeting, according to the memo, was made up of some political heavyweights including former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Internal Affairs Mohammed Magoro, human rights lawyer Femi Falana, and many others. At the meeting, it was resolved to urgently rally and mobilise opposition presidential candidates and their party leaderships towards the implementation of the Ibadan declaration of the Nigerian opposition.
According to the memo, the planned mobilisation is based on the need “for us to urgently re-engage the ongoing electoral process after a long lull and silence in the face of growing threats to democracy.”
MCE has therefore swung into action to put its machinery in place towards convening the historic parley of the leadership of opposition parties and their presidential candidates together with their running mates.
“…The agenda of the proposed accord or alliance meeting should be strictly focused on the Ibadan declaration of the opposition on the need for the Nigerian opposition to present a single consensus presidential candidate for the 2027 elections with the aim of strengthening Nigerian Democracy with a formidable engagement of the ruling party, as a one sided Democracy or One Party/Man Rule will ruin the future of everybody and the entire country if allowed,” the memo stated.
The said meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday 19 and Thursday, August 20, 2026 “at a venue to be announced soon”.
