- Onanuga described Rauf Aregbesola as a “renegade” expelled from APC for anti-party activities during Osun election.
- He added that the ex-minister Hadi Sirika, now in ADC, is currently facing trial for alleged contract splitting under Buhari’s administration.
The special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has described politicians who recently joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as “desperados” united only by hatred for President Bola Tinubu.
He said those who left the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the ADC had done so long before now, and their defection was no surprise.
Onanuga made the remarks in a post shared on X on Thursday.
A coalition of opposition politicians had earlier adopted the ADC as a platform for the 2027 general election.
At the unveiling of the coalition on Wednesday in Abuja, the party named the former senate president, David Mark, as interim chairman, and Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun, as secretary.
Among those present were the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar; Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in 2023; and Aminu Tambuwal, the former governor of Sokoto.
Also in attendance were the former minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; ex-minister of sports, Solomon Dalung; and the former APC national chairman, Odigie Oyegun.
Others at the unveiling included the former attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami; former senator, Dino Melaye; publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu; and senators Eyinnanya Abaribe and Ireti Kingibe.
More names on the list were Elisha Abbo, Uche Secondus, Tunde Ogbeha, Victor Umeh, Lauretta Onochie, Liyel Imoke and Bolaji Abdullahi.
Onanuga urged Nigerians not to be fooled by the defection, dismissing the coalition as irrelevant and lacking ideology.
He said the APC would not “mourn” those who had left, describing their exit as a long time coming.
“Rotimi Amaechi’s soul left the APC in 2022 after losing the presidential primary to President Tinubu,” he said.
“Abubakar Malami, the former attorney-general, has never hidden his estrangement from the APC since Tinubu assumed leadership and since he lost the governorship bid in Kebbi.”
“Hadi Sirika, now with the ADC, is facing trial for contract splitting and other allegations,” he added.
“The renegade Rauf Aregbesola committed anti-party in the last Osun election and was expelled as an unfit APC member.”
He labelled other members of the coalition as “disgruntled politicians posturing as would-be saviours of Nigeria.”
“Imam abandoned the APC after failing to secure the vice-presidential ticket in 2022,” he wrote.
“Chief Oyegun, a former party chairman, also lost interest in the APC and has been a foundational member of this coalition since its inception.”
He warned Nigerians against buying into what he called a “charade,” describing the new political formation as one without a clear plan for the country.
“My advice to Nigerians: Shine your eyes very well,” Onanuga wrote.
“A political party with no clear agenda or ideology — whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu — can not be good for our country. It will only set us back by decades.”
“These politicians are desperados, hungry for power — not for the benefit of Nigerians but for themselves.”