ADC: We Will Resist Plot to Make Tinubu Sole Presidential Candidate in 2027 Poll

• Alleges APC planning to impose expelled member on leadership 

•Insists despite defections, APC will be rejected at polls in 2027

• Ruling party is delusional, declares PDP  

•Removal of certificate forgery to protect Tinubu from prosecution, says party chieftain

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged plans by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole presiden-tial contender on the ballot in 2027.

ADC said that was part of an elaborate plot by the ruling party for next year’s general election.

It said the plot included mounting pressure on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe, an expelled member of ADC, as the party’s National Chairman.

In a statement by ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party described the move as a calculated attempt by elements within the ruling establishment to manufacture confusion within ADC and weaken the only viable opposition platform left in the country.

The party maintained that there was no legal basis for any confusion as its leadership remained firmly under Senator David Mark following a combined meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) witnessed by INEC officials in July 2025.

The party vowed to employ every legitimate means to resist plots by anti-democratic forces within the ruling party to end competitive democracy in Nigeria.

ADC said, in the statement, “This brazen attempt to undermine and destabilise the opposition ahead of the 2027 general election is, reportedly, being driven by an APC governor, in collaboration with a senior security official based in Abuja, as part of the plot to impose President Tinubu on Nigerians as the sole presidential contender in 2027.

‘’At the centre of this scheme is Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe, an expelled member of the ADC, who has recently been parading himself as a leader of the party while collaborating with external political interests.

‘’Mr. Gombe, who once claimed to be Deputy National Chairman under the former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, was duly expelled from the ADC after engaging in actions that were inconsistent with the party’s constitution, its principles, and the collective decisions of its leadership.

‘’It is, therefore, shocking, though not surprising, that elements within the ruling establishment are now attempting to use him as a willing instrument of destabilisation and plot  to forcefully take over the leadership of the ADC.

‘’The objective is clear: to manufacture confusion within the ADC, sponsor illegitimate leadership claims, and ultimately cripple the only credible opposition platform that Nigerians are increasingly looking to as a genuine alternative, thereby leaving Nigerians no choice in the next general election, despite widespread suffering that the ruling party has brought on the people.

“It may be worth reiterating that a properly constituted combined meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC), witnessed by officials of INEC, transferred leadership to the coalition led by Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola in July 2025.

‘’This exercise was duly acknowledged by INEC with a formal recognition of the David Mark leadership in September 2025. And most recently, on March 6, a Federal High Court had dismissed a case challenging Mark’s leadership of the party, affirming a well-grounded Supreme Court judgement that matters of leadership are wholly an internal affair of political parties.”

ADC added, “We, therefore, wonder at the level of desperation that is driving these anti-democratic forces to continue in their sinister efforts to impose expelled individuals on the party or manipulate its internal structures through external political pressure on judges and electoral officials. 

‘’Nigeria’s democracy cannot thrive where the ruling party seeks to capture, infiltrate, or manufacture opposition parties for its own political convenience and survival. Such actions represent a dangerous assault on democratic pluralism and the constitutional right of Nigerians to freely organise and support credible political alternatives.”

ADC called on the general public, members, and democratic institutions to “disregard the activities and claims of Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe and those backing his illegitimate adventure”.

The party stated, “We know them and their game plans and we will resist them by all means necessary. We will defend our democracy.

“The ADC remains united, focused, and committed to building a strong democratic alternative for Nigerians. No amount of intimidation, infiltration, or political engineering will derail this mission.”

You’re Delusional, PDP Replies APC

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, tackled APC over comments that it was a spent force and no longer a political party to be reckoned with in the politics of 2027

Reacting to the comments of the national publicity secretary of APC, Felix Morka, National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Ini Ememobon, said, “This statement is most unfortunate and a clear indication that Morka and his cohorts are clearly delusional.

‘’Interestingly, reality shows that despite the large-scale defections secured by force and inducement by the APC, Nigerians have consistently rejected the ruling party, which is daily ruining Nigeria and Nigerians.

‘’This is evident in the struggle their party has had with membership registration, where in many states governors have copied the database of state empowerment programmes to populate their state registers.

‘’The recent disruption of the City Boys event in Owerri is a foreshadow of what awaits them all over the country.”

The PDP spokesman added, “For Morka, who is struggling to become a modern-day Joseph Goebbels, he should remember that delusional propaganda does not just destroy a nation but ultimately consumes its proponents, as it did in Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.

‘’His defence of the political genocide of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu APC-led federal government, is akin to Goebbels’ defence of Hitler’s pogroms and concentration camps.

‘’We can assure Morka and his ilk in the ruining APC government that when the history of this period is written and the mortal threat to democracy is documented, his name will be boldly written in the pages of infamy as one of those who actively defended the Tinubu maladministration.”

Certificate Forgery Removal to Protect Tinubu from Prosecution, Says Salihu

A chieftain of ADC, Dr. Ladan Salihu, said the main objective of the National Assembly’s removal of certificate forgery as an offence in the new electoral act was to protect Tinubu from further prosecution because as presidential candidate, he had questionable academic credentials.

Salihu, who was on the Arise news television on Monday, said Tinubu faced severe legal challenges in 2023 because of the allegations of forgery in his credentials.

He explained that it was for that reason that the APC-dominated National Assembly decided to ensure that forgery of academic credentials should not be an offence for qualification to stand for election any longer in Nigeria

Salihu wondered what will take precedence, between Nigeria’s constitution and the recently enacted Electoral Act.

He said the Nigerian constitution criminalises forgery, stressing, ‘’We will see when the time comes, which would be stronger, between the 1999 Constitution and the 2026 electoral law.”