By Eric Elezuo
Following the last week’s unveiling of a coalition movement under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to challenge the President Bola Tinubu-led national government in 2027, the two contending parties are leaving no stone unturned in the battle of wits to outdo each other and gain the confidence of the electorate.
No doubt, the final merger of coalition advocates with the already existing ADC has been described as the biggest shake-ups in Nigerian politics since the end of military rule in 1999, relegating the alliance that led to the ouster of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 to the background. In retrospect, this is not the first time the ADC has presented itself as a platform for adoption. In 2018, the party was adopted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s political movement, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, but its operations were shortlived, and could not match the APC and PDP dominance in 2019.
But today, the situation is different as most of the apparachiks that constitute the then PDP, and a few of those in the APC are now morphed in the ADC.
But with these development, the mouthpieces and major stakeholders of both political parties are on each other’s throats with figures, facts and most of the time, propaganda tailored towards discrediting one another in the race to secure, or wrest the seat of power, currently occupied by President Tinubu.
The coalition’s unveiling, which took place in Abuja, witnessed the presence of various politicians across different political divides in the country. The party claim its major mandate is to boot out the administration of Tinubu, and rescue democracy, which according to them, is suffering and in near comatose status, in addition to restoring the dignity of the Nigerian citizen, restore parity in class differentiation and re-birth a life of ease for Nigerian citizens.
Among the politicians present at the event are Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, Former Kaduna State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amechi, former Governor of Rivers State.
Others are, Gabriel Suswan, Benue State former Governor, Datti Baba Ahmed, Senator David Mark, former Nigerian Senate President, Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto State former Governor, among others. The group has labelled the ruling APC as a disaster to the nation.
“The APC government, which came into being on the false and evil propaganda to save Nigeria from PDP is now a disaster to our nation and therefore must be voted out of power,’’ the coalition noted in a communiqué issued after their meeting.
Former Senate President David Mark was nominated as the Interim National Chairman of the party, while Rauf Aregbesola, former Governor of Osun State, was nominated as the National Secretary.
In his remark, the National Chairman stated that the essence of a coalition is not a power struggle, but rather the repositioning of the country’s democracy that would enhance good governance.
According to Senator Mark, the party invites Nigerian politicians willing to join and commit to ADC in preparation for the 2027 general elections, urging members to be dedicated and steadfast in advancing the party’s progress.
“On the operational focus and structure of the New Political Coalition, which unites Nigeria’s opposition groups, political parties, youth organizations, civil society, and various patrons from all regions of our country.
Over time, this coalition of national political groups transcended gaming and political power. Today marks the beginning of what will be your long, difficult, and tedious journey.
“However, it is a journey that we are prepared to undertake to unite our collective belief and make our country, Nigeria, great again, regardless of our tribe, religion, and ethnicity,” he said.
However, the APC speaking through its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, dismissed Mark’s statement as “nothing but stitches of untruths, diatribe, and regurgitated and baseless allegations against the APC-led administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
He said, “From beginning to end, Senator Mark said nothing about the purpose of the so-called coalition other than a loud declaration of desperation for power. What value does the coalition bring to Nigerians? Why should any Nigerian be concerned about a coalition of a bunch of egotistical maniacs for whom power and patronage are the oxygen on which their lives depend?
“One would have expected that, after months of vacillating between the devil and the deep blue sea, in search of a host platform, Senator Mark and his co-travellers would take Nigerians seriously enough by telling them what their coalition would do differently regarding the administration’s bold economic and sectoral policy reforms. What key alternative policy approaches would the coalition implement, and with what prospects of success compared to the high value and transformative impact of the administration’s reform policies? What exactly is the philosophical or ideological leaning of the coalition or its new party, aside from desperation for power at all cost, by all means necessary and unnecessary?”, APC queried.
African Democratic Congress ADC was originally named “Alliance for Democratic Change”. It was later renamed and registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Nigerians have had to battle uncertainty in their standard of living in the last 25 months of Tinubu’s administration, and this has necessitated the formation of a viable opposition front ahead of the next general elections. This is as the main opposition party, PDP, as hitherto known, seems to have imploded.
The political space has spiced up with the new ADC to halt the inordinate decamping of politicians to the APC, and as 2027 approaches, it is the side that convinces Nigerians better with human faced policies that may eventually carry the day, and so the gladiators on both divide have drawn the battle line to achieve this feat.
