Atiku's disqualification: Tinubu won't listen unless confronted

African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Dele Momodu has said President Bola Tinubu would not listen to appeals over the court nullification of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy unless he is confronted.

Momodu was reacting to a video shared on social media in which Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State appealed to the Tinubu administration not to destroy Nigeria’s democratic institutions following the Federal High Court judgement that nullified the ADC leadership and Atiku’s emergence as the party’s presidential candidate.

In the video, Makinde, who is the 2027 presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), said, “I want to appeal to the present administration. Governments will come and go, but our country will remain. We should not destroy our institutions, be it the judiciary or INEC… They must stop trying to shut out the opposition.”

Makinde had made the appeal in an interview with Bauchi Radio Broadcasting on Friday, after Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday nullified the National Working Committee led by former Senate President David Mark and all decisions taken under it.

Sharing Makinde’s video, Momodu, who is Deputy Director-General, Media and Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign, disagreed with the approach of appealing to the president.

He said, “I assure you sir, he (Tinubu) won’t listen unless he is confronted. He has the hawks goading him on. This was how the June 12, 1993, presidential election was recklessly annulled and Nigeria is still bleeding till this day.

“Truth is, Tinubu has already crossed the Rubicon and the consequences will be severe on our long suffering nation. Despite the obvious evidence that he no longer enjoys power, the pecuniary interests of his desperate acolytes will never allow the will of the people reign supreme unless God intervenes.

“It is yet another disaster of monumental proportions. As they say in America, this is how the cookie crumbles!!!”

The FHC judgement followed a suit by former ADC Deputy National Chairman (North-East), Nafiu Bala Gombe, who challenged the process through which Mark and former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, emerged as National Chairman and National Secretary after the resignation of Ralph Nwosu.

The court invalidated the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting of July 27, 2025, the presidential primary that produced Atiku, and other nominations, and directed INEC not to recognise decisions taken at the meeting.

Atiku, who had picked former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate, has vowed to challenge the judgement at the Court of Appeal, describing it as an attempt to weaken the opposition ahead of the January 16, 2027 election.

The presidency has denied involvement in the suit.

Presidential spokesman, Daniel Bwala told AFP that the APC “is not involved at all” in the case.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, also said Tinubu does not interfere in matters concerning the courts or the legislature, and that the executive must allow the judiciary to do its work.