- Abdullahi said the ADC won’t serve personal ambition or predetermined agendas, but will chart a new political course.
- He maintained that intimidation has discouraged sitting governors from joining the new opposition alliance against President Tinubu.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said state governors are reluctant to join the opposition coalition due to fears of intimidation.
The party’s interim national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this at the 3rd expanded meeting of the national political consultative group (North) in Abuja.
Abdullahi described the intimidation as a conspiracy against the Nigerian people and democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said the opposition coalition launched on July 1 by prominent figures aims to provide a credible challenge to President Bola Tinubu.
Although the party has gained support from some Nigerians, no sitting governor has openly joined the coalition.
“We don’t need to particularly target any serving governor. We know that no serving governor will want to come to us now because of the kind of intimidation that they are facing,”Abdullahi said.
“We know what they are doing to them. Some of them who cannot jump to their party (APC) are saying we are endorsing their presidential candidate (President Tinubu). No problem.
“But what you are seeing is a conspiracy against the Nigerian people. The ADC welcomes everybody, but we are convinced that we are a movement that has the backing of the majority of Nigerians who are not happy with the direction this country is going.”
The former minister stressed that ADC was not created for the ambition of any individual or for hijack by political elites.
“No, ADC is not going to be hijack. You see, the process for the building of the party ensures that the party does not coalesce around any individual,” he said.
“And like I repeatedly emphasised, the ADC is not built for anybody’s ambition. ADC is a party that is determined to give a different trajectory to Nigerian politics. We don’t have any predetermined agenda. We don’t have any favourite aspirant or candidate.
“We are not having any conversation at the moment. Nobody has ever had any conversation about who will be the party’s flag bearer. We believe that it is too early in the day.
“Our focus now is to build a political party that is strong enough to deliver on the mission that we have set for ourselves.”
The ADC spokesperson explained that the north’s consultative meeting was convened to examine the challenges facing the region and find suitable political responses.
“As you see, it’s the Northern Consultative Group of the African Democratic Congress. It’s a meeting of our region, the northern region, the north of Nigeria, to discuss situations in the north, especially the issue of insecurity, the issue of how we can strengthen unity in the north,” he said.
“There are similar meetings in the south, there are similar meetings for the southeast, all coalesced under the African Democratic Congress. So this particular meeting today is for the Northern part of Nigeria.
“And like I said, it’s for the purpose of getting briefings from all the states to know what the issues are, what the challenges are, and the progress we are making in terms of building this coalition.”
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