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“A major political realignment appears to be taking shape within the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as several high-profile political figures and party leaders have reportedly entered into a written unity agreement ahead of the party’s presidential primaries. The move is already generating debate across Nigeria’s political landscape.
“According to sources within the party structure, key stakeholders, including Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, Nasir El-Rufai, Aisha Yesufu, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Aminu Tambuwal, Kenneth Okonkwo, and other senior ADC figures, have endorsed a formal pact committing all aspirants and aligned leaders to fully support whoever emerges as the party’s presidential candidate.
“The reported agreement outlines that all signatories will provide total backing to the eventual standard bearer, including financial, structural, and strategic campaign support. Insiders describe the “Party strategists say the arrangement is intended to avoid the recurring pattern of defections, factional disputes, and parallel campaigns that have historically weakened opposition movements after primary contests. Supporters of the pact argue that early consensus-building could significantly strengthen the ADC’s competitiveness in the general election.
“However, critics view the development as politically explosive, raising questions about internal democracy, power-sharing negotiations, and whether the agreement could pressure the primary process toward a predetermined outcome.
“ADC officials have not yet released a full public copy of the agreement, but multiple insiders confirm that additional provisions, described as “Part Two,” are expected to address campaign structure, coalition expansion, and dispute resolution mechanisms. The reported pact signals a potentially consequential shift in opposition politics and may reshape the dynamics of the coming presidential
What you have been reading is private disclosure by a Nigerian media entity interested in the ongoing democratic interplays in our country, especially about affairs in the new opposition party, the ADC in particular. The interest is a worthwhile enterprise. For democracy to grow and take root, to produce good governance there is a need for a constant vigilance on the part of the citizens.
To some degree, we must admit that our politics and governance have entered a state of concern. So much talk and policy enunciations and yet nothing seems to change in a most fundamental manner. It is still about hope and continuous belief that things would turn good after the citizens have suffered for a while.
The people are very expectant but the fallouts don’t encourage anyone. It is more like sounds signifying nothing. The more the citizens look, the less they see. So many can’t make sense of the forces at play. The signals emanating from the political stage don’t look interesting at all. There is the fear of a one party state but those who engineer it insist it can’t even happen when the evidences are formidable and overwhelming.
Nearly all the opposition parties are prostate as you read this. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is castrated. This is one truth some of the henchmen still remaining don’t want to acknowledge but it is the truth. Feeble but very late efforts to salvage what remains of the party have had the enthusiasm dosed by a judiciary that has itself become a victim of state capture by a section of the political class that places power grab higher than noble national values and ideals. The stranglehold would loosen when it won’t be useful to the party’s good run in the 2027 polls.
This explains why a high degree of attention has been focused on the “revived” African Democratic Congress (ADC). Some months have gone past since the privatization of this near moribund political party was undertaken, yet not many citizens are convinced of its proper standing in the scheme of things, especially given the fact that most of those pushing to build up the party and present it as a change vehicle have themselves been behind the variables that produced retrogression having been key players on the nation’s political stage for decades running.
Atiku Abubakar, a strong political force no doubt, has been vice president – one that was in-charge of economic transformation. The party’s national chairman, Senator David Mark, was a key player in the nasty military intrusion into national governance which we agree did more harm to national development than good.
He is on record to have headed the “abandoned property” panel during which property owned by Igbo people in states outside their region was given to indigenous people of those states on account it was abandoned by the rightful owners during the ill-fated civil war that lasted about two and half years. He also said “telephone was not for the poor”. Today, he is singing a new song. Nigerians are asking if such a deeply rooted-system person can midwife an epoch. Can he? As you read this, the party has cases in court. Isn’t this a time bomb? Can this party be the hope of a new opposition?
The second reason ADC has gained attention is linked to the search for a credible electoral procedure this time in 2027. In the 2023 polls, the application of technology succeeded substantially in the other elections but failed abysmally in the most important election, the presidential polling. The electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission, claimed what it described as “technical breach” disrupted the uploading of results to the IReV, which till now it has been unable to satisfactorily explain what that means to the people.
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Citizens have been left to wallow in conjectures and this hasn’t helped anybody, including the electoral umpire. The vacuum has increased doubts and concern about sound elections next time. We must give it to the ADC – they have kept the heat on even though it is very important to say they left matters that should have been pursued and settled before now still lingering. Electoral Act ought to have been a settled before now.
Last week when the National Assembly rose up to a sense of nationalism and urgency we saw the clutches of backward integration were not only around, they appear dug in and very deep rooted. Forget the many items on the bill for sound electoral system, the most important is the real time result transmission from the polling units to the server at the headquarters. It was here that we saw the challenge.
The House of Representatives gave a good account on this note but in the Senate, the bill was bugged down by the old culture. The senators’ desire for it to remain the way it was in 2023 raised concerns, and would have resulted in crisis but for the sense of high patriotism exhibited by opposition figures. It was pressure from ADC chieftains combined with civil society groups that caused the Senate to shift grounds yet it met the nation half way.
A committee of both legislative chambers has been constituted to produce a final position. Would they finally be on the people’s side or would it amount to a betrayal of hope?
In all, we give credit to the “new” ADC. Nations develop when citizens leave ambition to line up behind vision. This could signpost the dawn of a new era. Ambition says “me and my group.” It is narrow and limited to self and group interest, the exact reasons our country has been driven to the precipice of becoming a failed state.
It is why we have bastardized the concept of federalism and doing some weird things in the false guise of federalism, believing we can harvest the benefits and strengths of federalism like we have seen elsewhere but the harder we have tried the more things have continued to fall apart with the centre barely able to hold. We can only pray that the foray of ADC isn’t solely to “grab” and to replace new faces with the same mindset. This would extend the bonds of rudderless and place the country in greater danger.
We have dwelt much on the ADC and its imagined significance because we are yet to see depth from them. They have constituted a constitution drafting committee. We are waiting to see if there would be a difference from what it has been. Nevertheless, the influence of personalities can’t be played down in whatever would begin to happen in the party if it is able to finally survive the teething challenges.
There’s this truth citizens know but are not talking about it very much. ADC as presently constituted belongs to Atiku Abubakar. His core men hold the pillars. Many tickle with the idea it is the North’s answer to President Bola Tinubu’s quest for another term of four years. A section of the North is against Tinubu on two grounds. First they can’t stand staying off power at the centre for all of eight years.
This mentality has always been there, this is why we see abuses and attacks from the north once it is a Southerner that is there. We recall politicians like Babangida Aliyu, former Governor of Niger State taking on in very reckless manner President Olusegun Obasanjo and later Goodluck Jonathan, insisting they signed to run for one term. President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t get such treatment even when his performance was terrible, when compared to the others. Tinubu hasn’t escaped this malaise either.
The second reason is that a good number of them feel they are not safe and comfortable with Tinubu. So he must go. To some extent a good section of the people are watching to see ADC unfold fully. How they do would count for the degree of reception they would get. The presence of Peter Obi has brought gains but it is not widespread because as earlier observed his constituency is among those watching the zoning arrangement of the unfolding party.
It is the reason ADC has not gained the high traction it was expected to have. The country needs the power that will enrich development and fast pace if they can align properly. The challenge ahead is enormous but the good news is that it is not insurmountable. What is required may be a change of mindset. Mind renewal is cardinal; there must be resolve to depart from the inglorious paths we have walked all this while.
•Next week we look at possible scenarios and what they portend for the party and 2027 polls.
