The African Democratic Congress (ADC), yesterday, pointedly accused the Presidency of scheming to destabilise the growing opposition coalition, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This came on a day, three aggrieved members of the ADC approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking it to sack the Senator David Mark-led interim leadership of the party.
This became more worrisome for the party as its immediate past national chairman, Ralph Nwosu, warned yesterday that the newly-formed opposition coalition might collapse under the weight of clashing interests and political power blocs if not properly managed.
It will be recalled that last week, some opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President, Senator David Mark; 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi; former Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; former Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, formally adopted the ADC as the platform to enter the 2027 elections and challenge President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The ADC alleged yesterday that due to its growing momentum as a credible opposition force, the Presidency is applying intimidation and coercion tactics to undermine the party.
ADC, in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary and National Coalition Spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, revealed that former state chairmen and key members of the party’s state executive committees in the North-East and North-West were summoned to a secret meeting with senior federal government officials.
According to him, the meeting had no connection with national security or peace-building rather was intended to coerce attendees into supporting a plot against the opposition coalition.
Abdullahi said, “We have credible intelligence that the aim of this meeting is not for national security or peace-building. It is to intimidate, coerce, and if possible, co-opt these individuals into a fabricated scheme against the opposition coalition. This is not politics. This is sabotage.”
He described the actions as a direct assault on Nigeria’s multi-party democracy, he warned that they could push the country towards a one-party state.
“The July 1 coalition declaration and the July 2 unveiling of the ADC have rattled the ruling party. It is now obvious that the Tinubu administration, having lost the trust of the Nigerian people, cannot withstand the pressure of a united and credible opposition.
“But rather than correct its ways, it has resorted to its old playbook of destabilising opposition parties.
“We call on President Bola Tinubu to take note of these sinister moves by some of his appointees and call them to order. The President needs to prove to Nigerians that he is, indeed, a democrat.
“He needs to remind his men that if the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was as intolerant and as subversive of the opposition, the APC would not have come to power in 2015 and he would not have been a president today.
“Let it be clear: the coalition movement is an idea whose time has come. This party belongs to every Nigerian who is tired of the lies, the manipulation, and hardship.
“It belongs to every Nigerian who wants to restore decency, vision and justice to governance. We would, therefore, not allow a handful of desperate men to turn Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship. And it would be our patriotic duty to resist it with every democratic means available to us,” he said.
