Duke likens pro-Tinubu opposition parties to Abacha-era ‘leprous fingers’
Former Cross River governor, Donald Duke, likens opposition parties supporting President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid to the ‘five leprous fingers’ of the Read More:…
The "five leprous fingers" is a reference to the late General Sani Abacha's widely condemned 1990s self-succession plot, in which all five political parties registered under his military government simultaneously endorsed him as their sole presidential candidate ahead of planned 1998 elections, a move critics said exposed the parties as hollow extensions of state power rather than genuine opposition. Abacha died in June 1998 before the transition could be completed, but the episode remains a byword in Nigerian political discourse for engineered, lopsided contests that undermine multi-party democracy.
Donald Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, raised the comparison as several opposition parties have moved to back President Bola Tinubu's bid for a second term in 2027, a trend that has drawn criticism from figures within the opposition who argue it weakens checks on the ruling party. The coverage from Punch and Premium Times both report Duke's warning, with Premium Times giving more detail on his characterisation of the current trend as a path toward "disaster." Neither report specifies which opposition parties or figures are involved in the realignment, or what concrete steps, if any, Duke is proposing in response.