Presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has warned that the All Progressives Congress (APC) could retain power in the 2027 general election if opposition parties fail to unite behind a common candidate.

Duke gave the warning on Monday, during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, where he argued that the division of opposition votes could give the ruling party an electoral advantage despite a lack of majority support nationwide.

He cited the 2015 general election, when opposition parties united under the APC to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had governed Nigeria at the federal level for 16 years, as an example of the effectiveness of political cooperation.

“The reason why the opposition was able to unseat the ruling party in 2015 was that they came together. When you look at the results of 2023, you find that the current administration, the APC government, only won about 10 percent of the vote. The opposition had over 60 per cent of the vote,” he said.

According to the former Cross River State governor, the opposition's inability to replicate the 2015 alliance in 2023 contributed to its failure to dislodge the APC from power.

“In a presidential system of government, or a presidential democracy, you need just two parties. Where you have more than two parties, most likely, the incumbent party will always win because the opposition will split their votes, which we saw in 2023,” he said.

Duke warned that the ruling party could again benefit from a divided opposition in 2027, stressing that electoral success would depend significantly on the ability of opposition parties to consolidate their support.

“But I'm repeating over again that if we don't all come together, the APC would win the election. Not by majority of the votes cast. No, the APC knows very well that it can never win a majority of the votes cast,” he said.

Explaining his position, Duke argued that the distribution of votes across states could prove decisive, particularly where opposition candidates divide the votes that might otherwise be consolidated behind a single challenger.

He said the APC's control of several state governments could also give it an advantage in meeting the geographical spread required to win the presidential election.

“It does not require majority of the votes cast. It just requires a split of the opposition, even if it's by one and have 25 per cent in over 24 states. Now, the APC has control of about 32 states. They have 32 state governments. Easily, those states will produce 25 per cent. Whether they win or not, they'll at least give the APC 25 per cent. So they've already achieved a spread,” he said.

Duke maintained that opposition parties should not limit their proposed alliance to the objective of removing President Bola Tinubu from office, but should first agree on a common vision for Nigeria and identify the candidate best positioned to implement it.

“Coming together is not essentially to remove the APC and replace them with another party that will probably do the same thing. Let's have a common objective for Nigeria first and foremost. Where do we want to take Nigeria to?” he asked.

He urged opposition leaders to put aside personal ambitions and prioritise the country's interests, arguing that the responsibility of governing millions of Nigerians should outweigh individual political aspirations.

“The first thing you have to get rid of is your ego. Submit or just lock away your ego. You're talking about the administration of the lives of people, right? You cannot put yourself above,” he said.

The PRP presidential candidate also declared his willingness to support another opposition figure if a credible process produced a candidate who shared the coalition's national objectives.

“I don't have to be president,” Duke declared.

He warned that opposition parties risked repeating the outcome of the 2023 election if they failed to learn from their previous experience, insisting that unity, a shared national agenda and the selection of a broadly acceptable candidate would be crucial to their chances in 2027.

“If you do the same thing that you did in 2023 and you do it again today, you think you're going to be different or you're not more popular than you were in 2023, then I think you're not thinking right,” he said.