- After months of scheming and plotting that left Nigerians guessing what its next move would be, the National Coalition Group (NCG) has finally taken the first step in their push to oust President Tinubu from office.
The year 2027 is a most pregnant and baleful one for people and the country. The questionable endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for a second term in less than two years into office, the fear of Nigeria becoming a one-party state, the dubious wave of defection, the intra and inter-party wrangling, the strident noise of a coalition and the likelihood of its materialisation and the devil-may-care aura of desperados in the political space, all add up to create suspense and drama.
Though the 2027 election is still some eighteen months away, the political horse-trading and forging of alliances that characterise the build-up to the general election have begun in earnest. While President Bola Tinubu is making moves to consolidate his power and win re-election, opposition parties are also plotting to oust him from office. The move unseat President Bola Tinubu has given birth to a coalition of politicians from opposition parties.
After months of scheming and plotting that left Nigerians guessing what its next move would be, the National Coalition Group (NCG) has finally taken the first step in their push to oust President Tinubu from office. Yesterday, news filtered through that the politicians have written to INEC for the registration of a new party, All Democratic Alliance (ADA).
The National Coalition Group (NCG) officially submitted a request to the INEC to register a new political party named the All Democratic Alliance (ADA). The application letter, dated June 19, 2025, was marked as received by INEC on June 20, 2025. A copy of the letter, signed by Chief Akin A. Rickets, the association’s Protem National Chairman.
“Application For Registration As A Political Party.
“We respectfully write to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, requesting the registration of our association, the All Democratic Alliance, ADA, as a political party.
“This is sequel to the decision taken by the Nigerian National Coalition Group to sponsor our association for full registration. The name of the party shall be All Democratic Alliance with ADA as our acronym and ‘Justice for All’ as our slogan. The National Secretariat of the party is as stated at the bottom of the association’s letterhead used in this application,” The letter read in part.
A look at the new party and the top guns behind it
Atiku Abubakar
The former vice president is one of the wealthy and powerful politicians in the National Coalition Group (NCG). Atiku’s name has featured prominently in Nigerian politics since the late 80s, and he has continued to make his presence felt in the nation’s political arena. He has contested for the presidency on five different occasions. Atiku’s membership of the NCG is not a surprise to many, seeing how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party he is still a member of and spent much of his political career in, is now in disarray, and the chances of resolving the crisis that envelopes it wane with every passing day. With the registration of the coalition party, ADA, ongoing, Atiku may be on his way out of the PDP. Atiku has not announced his plans for the 2027 presidential election, but the feelers we are getting is that he would likely throw his hat in the ring again, and the registration of ADA is the first step towards that.
Nasir El-Rufai
Another prominent politician in the coalition and its brainchild, ADA, is former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai. In fact, public discourse about a coalition started gaining momentum after he left the APC, citing the party’s deviation from the principles and ideals of its founding members. He also vowed to lead a coalition that would unseat his former party. Despite his public posturing and unusual bad blood between him and Tinubu, whom he played a key role in his emergence as president, many Nigerians are not convinced that El-Rufai’s switch of allegiance and newfound sympathy for the plight of the suffering Nigerians are rooted in altruism and have continued to view him with distrust as they keep him at arm’s length. El-Rufai will likely not vie for the presidency in 2027 but he will be using the coalition to lay the groundwork for his future ambition: the presidency.
David Mark
Mark is an old war horse in Nigeria’s political landscape. He is one of the top officers of the Nigerian Army who transitioned into politics after ditching the military uniform for civilian garb. He was the longest-serving president of the Nigerian Senate having served as the 12th president of the upper legislative chamber from 2007 to 2015. He was the Senator for Benue South senatorial district from 1999 to 2019. He is a founding member of the PDP and still a member of the party. Like Atiku, his membership of the coalition, signals his imminent departure from the PDP. Despite his clout and influence, his involvement in the annulment of the June 12 election continues to remain a blight on his life. Many Nigerians have not forgotten let alone forgiven him for the role he played in one of the darkest chapters of Nigeria’s history.
Peter Obi.
Obi is not a new face in Nigerian politics but the outcome of the 2023 presidential election has added a few more notches to his political belt and catapulted him straight to the top of the mainstream of Nigerian politics. The election saw his political mileage and capital soar. So huge is the support base he has now that many dispassionate and impartial observers and commentators have reckoned that the coalition only stands a chance of defeating Tinubu if they field him as their presidential candidate. However, his attitude towards the coalition has been ambivalent. He has repeatedly said he is not against a coalition but he won’t be part a coalition whose sole purpose is to grab power at all cost and does not give priority to the needs and welfare of Nigerians. With the registration of the ADA ongoing, he has chosen the position of a bystander for now and watch as things unfold. Also, having made it clear that he would contest for the presidency again in 2027, the likelihood of Atiku also contesting may stop him from joining the ADA, when eventually registered as a political party. He will not want to contest against Atiku in an open primary and won’t want to settle for vice presidential candidate.
Rotimi Amaechi
The former Rivers State Governor is another member of the Nigerian political class leading the coalition charge. After the last presidential election, he went on what was a self-inflicted political oblivion. However, he has been in the news in recent weeks. He has been castigating the current government for the troubling state of the nation and also excoriating Nigerians for not standing up to politicians who have turned the country into a giant enclave of destitutes. Like Atiku, he’s one of the PDP bigwigs who left the party in 2014 to join the APC when he was still a governor. It remains to be seen how his personality can help the coalition cause as he no longer control the political and financial levers of Rivers state.
What people are saying
As expected, reactions have been trailing the coalition announcement of ADA registration. From the condemnation of the party’s logo to the expression of optimism about it ability to oust the ruling party
“H.E @atiku has been in the Nigerian Political Space too long to understand how the system works. APC is ready for 2027 —none of the opposition leaders is today ready. Whilst the Political class is sabotaged; new energy like @PeterObi is needed as the face of the New Nigeria,” – Darlington Ezinwoke said
“If there’s someone who should never have benefited from our democratic dispensation, it is David Mark. Unfortunately, he benefited so much. He was twice number 3. He was a major player in the June 12 annulment,” Ayo Ige stated
“Everyone involved in this logo design deserve hard labor,” SSA for Afrobeats opined.
“Very ironic that the symbol of the alliance is corn,” Monye Morris quipped.
“Has the 3rd Force finally arrived?
PO was seen as the 3rd force in the las t elections. Now withnames like David Mark and Rotimi Amaechi entering the scene, maybe the game is really changing. Could this be the real third force Nigerians have been waiting for?All the best to them!,” Paul Chisom wrote
Final thought
The ADA is similar in some ways to the creation of the APC in its early days. Both are typified by the coming together of disgruntled politicians who are looking for ways to take power. The strategy of leveraging the growing discontent and resentment of Nigerians towards an incumbent president over the parlous state of the nation that the APC deployed in 2015 to actualise their power-grabbing goal is what the bigwigs in ADA are trying to use by tapping into the national dissatisfaction to achieve their goal. The only difference is that the ADA does not have the sheer number of political gladiators that the APC had in its ranks in the build-up to the 2015 election.
Many Nigerians are not convinced the coalition and the ADA, which is majorly peopled by those who br inought the APC to power, can rescue them from the debilitating choke hold of the ruling party and take the country out of the abyss of incompetence and criminality it’s currently trapped.
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