A chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Buba Galadima, has alleged that former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, is coordinating a seven-man opposition group working to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Galadima made the claim on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he said the group was making progress in its efforts to challenge Tinubu.
“I also want to say publicly that I am one of the group of opposition candidates, seven of us, under the coordination of Governor Fayemi Kayode, working on that, and we are making progress,” Galadima said.
Asked what the group was working to achieve, he responded: “To defeat Tinubu.”
Galadima also expressed confidence in the electoral prospects of NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi, saying he believed Obi would win if the 2027 election was free and fair.
The claim about Fayemi’s alleged coordination of the group has, however, drawn a reaction from Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Olayinka, who shared a clip of Galadima’s interview on X, said he would withhold judgment unless Fayemi publicly responded to the allegation.
“I will choose not to believe this except Dr Kayode Fayemi fails to refute it today,” Olayinka wrote.
The allegation comes amid increasing political realignments and opposition efforts ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The development follows another unverified claim by businessman and political commentator Isaac Fayose that five serving governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are secretly supporting the NDC.
Fayose made the allegation in a video published around September 20, claiming that the unnamed governors had pledged financial support for the NDC’s electoral operations while remaining publicly loyal to the APC.
According to Fayose, the alleged governors were particularly interested in preventing Wike from securing electoral victories for the APC in the Federal Capital Territory and Rivers State.
He further claimed that the governors had offered N200,000 per polling unit to NDC polling agents in the two areas to help protect votes against alleged electoral manipulation.
However, Fayose did not identify the five governors, and reports on the allegation note that the claims have not been independently verified.
The latest claims have added another layer to the political manoeuvring ahead of 2027, with the identities of the alleged seven-member opposition group and the five APC governors yet to be publicly established.
Fayemi has also yet to publicly confirm or deny Galadima’s claim that he is coordinating the seven-man opposition group.
