LAGOS, Nigeria — Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said the opposition is beginning to appreciate the difficulties President Bola Tinubu faced in forming the coalition that birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking on Tuesday at an APC event in Lagos endorsing Tinubu for a second term, Fashola noted that attempts by opposition parties to form a similar alliance are exposing them to the complexities involved in building a unified political platform.

“This meeting comes at a time when those who once opposed our emergence are now trying to form a coalition,” Fashola said. “They are beginning to understand how difficult it was to achieve the merger that produced the APC.”

He emphasized that the APC remains the only successful political merger in Nigeria’s history, and credited Tinubu for his role in uniting the various political factions that formed the ruling party.

“They said it would never happen, but it did. And today, the opposition is learning just how long and difficult that road was,” he said.

Fashola praised the leadership of Tinubu and other founding members of the APC, stating that running a political party is one of the most demanding tasks in a democracy.

“Every commendation is due to those who made this party possible, especially the President. One of the most difficult institutions to run is a political party. It thrives on numbers, yet allows for the freedom to join and the freedom to leave,” he said.

He added that those at the helm of party affairs deserve respect and support for managing such a complex structure.