ADC Vows Strong Showing in Coming Elections Despite Challenges

*Tinubu’s poor performance, worsening statistics, deepening poverty make our acceptance easier 

*Accuses senate of double standards on Abaribe’s defection

Chuks Okocha

Former Minister of Sports, seasoned media strategist, and National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi has said the party is gaining strength and remains confident it will perform strongly in the upcoming elections despite internal challenges.

He predicated the expected performance of his party on the fact that the poverty level increased to 63 percent on removal of fuel subsidy, added to the slipshod economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which he said foisted unprecedented suffering on Nigerians.

He said this while speaking with ARISE NEWS yesterday in an interview and in a separate statement he later issued.
Justifying his confidence, Abdullahi noted, “A lot more people are growing more confident to join the party, having seen the direction that the party is going. Yet, there are still challenges, but we are confident that our party is waxing stronger by the day. So, the election is just a few months down the line, but we are very, very confident that we’ll do well in the election.”
Speaking on the defection of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), to the ADC, Abdullahi argued that the controversy around Abaribe’s defection was politically motivated and hypocritical.

“You see, it’s part of the APC’s duplicitousness. And why will I say this? When people decamped from NNPP to join APC, was there fractionalisation within the NNPP? The answer is no. So, it’s okay when people join APC from whatever party, regardless of the situation in that party, but when they want to leave their original party to join ADC or any opposition party, then they begin to nitpick on this. And Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has made it clear that APGA has suspended him since last year. So, effectively, as we speak, he does not have a political party. So, on what grounds will you deny him the right to find a political party that he wants?”, he asked.

Speaking further on Abaribe, Abdullahi said the Senator had the right to join the ADC after suspension by the APGA since the constitution does not recognise independent candidates.

“If he says that his party has suspended him and he does not have a political party and he chooses to go to ADC, so on what grounds will you say he cannot find a political party for himself? Does the constitution recognize independent candidates?”, he questioned.

The Media Strategist said that the ADC was structurally and operationally ready to welcome defectors and manage election challenges.

“For the people coming to our party, we are more than ready to welcome them. It’s a big tent, and that’s why it’s a coalition, and we are hoping it will even get bigger. So we are inviting all opposition parties—that the only way we can present a formidable front as an opposition party is for everybody to come together as long as we believe in the same thing. So we are ready structurally, and we are ready in terms of our ability to manage the competitions that would arise ahead of 2027. We are prepared,” he declared.

“I mean, for Senator Abaribe, the Senate has adjourned to April, so there is sufficient time to deal with that. But we don’t envisage any obstacle. It’s a political party, and by its definition, a political party is to manage these kind of issues and developments. So there is nothing untoward about it, and we’re going to deal with it. So just for the record, as we stand, Senator Ireti Kingibe is not suspended from the African Democratic Congress.”

Addressing Kingibe’s suspension, Abdullahi said the matter was about following proper party procedures, not the allegations themselves, noting ward-level suspensions without national approval was invalid.

“It’s not about the material particulars of the allegations against her, it’s about the process of suspending an individual from the party. If—I’m not saying she’s guilty of those things or not—but if you are suspecting her or you are laying allegations against her for those things, then you make your presentation through the appropriate processes and procedures and mechanism of the party”, he said.

Responding to APC’s criticism of the ADC, Abdullahi said that the ruling party’s criticism highlights his party’s rising relevance and credibility as a serious opposition party.

“Sometimes you even wonder if the APC realise that they are now a ruling party or they still think in terms of opposition. Because when you find a ruling party criticizing the opposition party, you wonder which party is actually the opposition. And they’ve spent considerable time paying so much attention to the African Democratic Congress which we should ordinarily feel flattered, right?

“You know, so we’re okay, let them continue to say what they want to say. We’re happy, we’re enjoying the limelight. Now they’re paying attention. They thought we’d go away, but now we’re not going away. We’re here, sitting in the room”, he assured.

On zoning matters, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary said the ADC has not yet made a decision, and that whether the ticket comes from the South or North will be determined later based on strategic considerations.

“When you are an opposition party, the most important consideration you have is your strategy. So what is the strategic options that we have? So you cannot begin to say, ‘Okay, at this time, oh, we’re zoning or we’re unzoning.’ It’s a decision that the party has not made. When we get to that point, we’re going to take that decision, but it’s going to be a strategic decision more than anything else”, he shared.

Dismissing claims of an internal rift, Abdullahi said the ADC’s top figures remain committed and united.

“They’ve been talking about this implosion from day one, that ADC came about. ‘Oh, there are bigwigs, everybody has an ambition, therefore the party is going to collapse when it gets to that point.’ But so far, everyone’s committing to the African Democratic Congress. Each of these bigwigs that you mentioned are committed to the African Democratic Congress because they know that what is at stake is big”, he concluded.

Abdullahi, who exuded confidence in upstaging President Tinubu based on poor performance, insisted that the pain his policies have inflicted on innocent Nigerians was a platform on which to build confidence that the people will prefer an alternative leadership form in the country.

In a statement he issued, Abdullahi said the new figures of deepening poverty reflect the worsening economic hardship facing millions of Nigerians as rising fuel and transport costs continue to push up the cost of living.

The ADC noted that the new report only confirmed earlier surveys that indicate deep public dissatisfaction with the direction the country is heading under the APC administration.

The ADC considered the latest report showing that Nigeria’s poverty rate has risen to 63% following the removal of petrol subsidy by President Tinubu three years ago as a damning verdict on the administration’s economic policies.

According to Abdullahi, ”Yet, this report only confirms what millions of Nigerians already know from their daily experience: the cost of living is rising rapidly, purchasing power is collapsing, and families across the country are being pushed deeper into hardship.

”The report, presented at a policy dialogue in Abuja Thursday indicated that poverty in Nigeria rose sharply from about 50 percent before the subsidy removal to 63 percent afterward, as higher fuel and transport costs spread through the economy and drove up the prices of food, transportation, and other basic necessities.

”This verdict reflects the real consequences of the APC government’s hasty removal of fuel subsidy without giving full consideration to how such a serious decision would impact on the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

The government has repeatedly justified the removal of subsidies on the need to divert resources to areas of critical needs, including health and education. Three years on, none of these sectors has been funded any better, and citizens have not seen the benefits of subsidy removal.”, the spokesman of the ADC stated.

He further said that ”Independent surveys already show that 93 percent of Nigerians believe that under President Tinubu, the country is heading in the wrong direction, even as 88 percent describe the national economy as bad, while another 74 percent say their personal living conditions are poor.

”These are not abstract statistics, they are the voices of a population under intense economic pressure,” he stated.