The National Chairman of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Bishop Amakiri, has criticised the opposition coalition, stating that the majority of its leaders have failed Nigerians in the past.
He also said that they lacked the moral authority to offer meaningful political change.
Amakiri, who made a guest appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, described the coalition as a recycled group of political elite whose past performances had contributed to Nigeria’s leadership crisis.
“I have a problem, and it is whether 85 per cent of people in that coalition have the moral justification to tell us about a coalition that will liberate the Nigerian people from the political leadership quagmire we find ourselves in. Nigeria is in an emergency need of political leadership substitution.
“Eighty-five per cent of them are people who belong to the PPM coalition group, and those people, a conglomeration, almost 85 per cent gathering of people who have failed the nation.
“I don’t know how prospective that kind of group can actually push the agenda that they are talking about. The task is now left for Nigerians to decide,” he said.
The YPP leader described the coalition as one filled with “political power mongers” who were primarily interested in reclaiming power for selfish purposes.
“You can’t have a gathering of over 85 per cent of persons who have been given the opportunity to lead this country before – and where have they taken the country to? Abysmal failure.
“These are people who once threatened the sovereignty of a nation. Now they’re telling us they want to form a coalition? They have nothing to offer. They are just political power mongers trying to advance their interests,” he said.
Amakiri questioned the viability of any group that consisted largely of those who had already failed the nation.
“When 85 per cent of them belong to this so-called PPM – Political Power Mongers – I don’t know how prospective that kind of group can be. It’s now left for Nigerians to decide.
“Maybe they’ve taken Nigerians for granted – perhaps due to the docility of our people. Every year, they gather, give it a new name, and play with Nigeria like it’s table tennis, back and forth, while young people just watch,” he stated.
He likened the coalition to a repeat of events in 2015, when, according to him, a similar alignment of political actors succeeded only in unseating a functioning government without offering better leadership.
“It’s the same thing they did in 2015 when they just wanted to kick out a president who was doing very okay. We had people in this country threaten to make the government ungovernable. Is this the kind of people we want to see forming a coalition again?” he said.
Asked to respond to claims that even some of his party members had defected to the coalition, Amakiri defended the YPP’s ideological stance and long-term strategy.
“We are not in a hurry to produce a president. Our major ambition is to take over the parliament. That’s why the YPP’s strategy is a more realistic one, aimed at legislative control. We are constrained, but we are focused,” he explained.
His comments came days after the opposition coalition held a high-profile meeting at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, where it formally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
At the event, ADC’s founder, Ralph Nwosu, handed over the party’s membership card to former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola, who were announced as the interim national chairman and secretary of the coalition, respectively.
Notable attendees included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s Peter Obi; former governors Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Ireti Kingibe, Senator Gabriel Suswam, Dele Momodu, Solomon Dalung, Emeka Ihedioha, Dino Melaye, and retired Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
The event also drew participation from members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the LP, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
