The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has clarified that the ongoing coalition talks among opposition parties and political bigwigs are not centred on any individual candidate, including Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi, rather it is focused on building stronger alliance for Nigeria’s future.
The interim spokesperson of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, revealed this on Tuesday.
“The coalition has nothing to do with either Peter Obi or Atiku. They are just members like many others. The focus is not on them. And of course, it is within anyone’s right to have political ambitions or to run for any position,” he said.
He noted that although people may discuss presidential ambitions on social media, such conversations are not taking place within the coalition itself.
On the possibility of the party picking between the two popular politicians, Bolaji said, “The party cannot align with one person and still call itself a party, that’s what happened to most of the other parties in the past. We don’t have a preferred candidate. When the time comes, we’ll follow a democratic process and allow members to decide.”
He stressed that the ADC is focused on building its structures and strengthening the party across Nigeria.
“Nobody is talking about a presidential candidate at the moment. Our focus is on growing the party,” he said.
On how the ADC is working in northern Nigeria, Bolaji stated that a lot of political leaders in the North who feel neglected by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are now part of the coalition.
“All the people who were in APC and are not happy with how things are going are in this coalition now. The majority of our leaders are from the North. The North knows it doesn’t want this APC government to continue because of how they’ve been treated.
“If you look back at the last two years and the way the government has made life hard, you’ll see that ADC is the only real alternative.”
He urged Nigerians to trust the ADC.
“The ruling party is punishing the people. ADC wants to free Nigerians from that suffering. No one wants to go through this again for another four years,” he said.
