Acting national publicity secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi has stated that governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are reluctant to publicly join the coalition for fear of intimidation and persecution.
He added that some governors in the APC as well as those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have place holders in the ADC and are supporting the party secretly.
Abdullahi made the comment over the weekend during the third expanded meeting of the national political consultative group (north) in Abuja.
He said the “fear” among governors was part of a wider “conspiracy against the Nigerian people”.
The coalition mouthpiece said that the fact that the party does not have a serving governor in its fold does not detract from its formidability as a viable platform to sack President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Abdullahi said that governors will not be the decider of the outcome of the next election, as Nigerians are already frustrated, tired, angry with the Tinubu administration and are ready to slug it out with the ruling party in the next election.
He said that the Nigerians are united in their resolve to match the APC in any way, adding that it would be difficult for the ruling party to rig the 2027 polls.
He said, “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 kinds of intimidation that they are facing. 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. 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”, said Abdullahi.
He also dismissed the prediction by ruling party politicians that the ADC will collapse within the nxt six months.
“Well, we are counting. It’s been how many months now? How many months have we spent now? You know, when we started, they said it was dead on arrival, right? Now they are giving us a six-month lifespan. After six months, they will extend it because the coalition is a coalition of Nigerians. It is a coalition that represents the desired interest of Nigerians to be free from the current crisis of existence that they are facing. Every Nigerian who is hungry knows that he doesn’t want this to continue. Every Nigerian who is finding it difficult to pay his children’s school fees, whose salary has been reduced to just a piece of paper, knows that he needs an alternative and the only alternative today is the ADC.
“So, if they continue to say that, let them continue to wish that this will collapse, but I can assure you the leadership of the ADC is very clear about the challenges that we are facing. We are very clear about the trust that Nigerians put in us. Every single day we receive messages from across this country saying that you people should please ensure that this succeeds because this is our only hope. So they can continue to wish as much as they want, they can continue to predict as much as they want, but for us we are very clear about where we are going and where we want to take Nigeria”, he added.
Abdullahi also dismissed fears that the ADC could be hijacked by a cabal of the political big wigs with presidential ambition, noting that the party is for all Nigerians and has functional structures that would not allow anyone or group to hijack its processes and systems.
The meeting earlier observed a minute’s silence for the late former president, Muhammadu Buhari.
Some of those at the meeting included former Senate President and Interim National Chairman of the ADC, Senator David Mark, Malam Kashim Imam, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, Salihu Moh. Lukman, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, former Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Dino Melaye, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and Chairman, Board of Trustees BoT of ADC, Dr Mani Ibrahim.
