ADC alleges plot to make Tinubu sole presidential candidate

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it has uncovered an alleged plot to destabilise the party, so as to make President Bola Tinubu the sole presidential candidate in the 2027 general election.

The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said some powerful figures in the All Progressives Congress (APC) were allegedly plotting to pressure the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe, as the national chairman of the ADC.

The party said the move is part of an elaborate plot by the APC to allegedly destabilise the ADC and forcefully take over its leadership, so that President Tinubu could emerge as the only serious contender on the presidential ballot in the next general election.

Consequently, it vowed to deploy every legitimate means to resist alleged plots by anti-democratic forces within the ruling party to end competitive democracy in Nigeria.

“Mark emerged the ADC national chairman last July, after the party emerged as the opposition coalition, for the next general election.

Shortly after, Gombe started laying claim to the leadership of the party. The ADC, while insisting that there is no legal basis for any confusion about its leadership, noted that the Senator David Mark-led National Working Committee (NWC) emerged at a combined meeting of the NWC and the National Executive Committee witnessed by the INEC officials in July 2025.

“The ADC has uncovered a desperate and sinister plot allegedly being orchestrated by powerful figures within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to pressure INEC into recognising a certain Nafiu Bala as the National Chairman 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 up to as a genuine alternative, thereby leaving Nigerians with no choice in the next general election, despite widespread suffering that the ruling party has brought upon the people,” the opposition party stated.

“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 the INEC, transferred leadership to the coalition led by Senator Mark and Rauf Aregbesola in July 2025. This exercise was duly acknowledged by INEC with a formal recognition of the 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 is wholly an internal affair of political parties.

“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.”