Systematic plot to kill ADC

There is a trend in recent times, which many Nigerians may not have noticed. It is the systematic plot to silence or kill the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a coalition of opposition parties in Nigeria. It is obvious that the powers that be do not want to brook any opposition. Their desire is for Nigeria to become a one-party state. But the surreptitious way they are going about it has become too brazen to be ignored. 

Last Friday, gunmen suspected to be political thugs attacked the convoy of a chieftain of the ADC and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, between Ubima and Omuanwa in Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State. They had earlier set ablaze the ward office of the ADC at Ubima, Amaechi’s community, the previous night. They also riddled Amaechi’s family house gate with bullets. It was when security operatives engaged them in a gun duel that they reportedly fled into the bush. Amaechi was in Ubima for his e-registration as a member of the ADC.

This is one attack too many. Last month, a similar thing happened in Edo State. A presidential aspirant of the ADC and former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; two former governors of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Professor Oserheimen Osunbor; and many other chieftains of the opposition party were in Benin, the Edo State capital. Their mission was to receive the 2024 governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Edo and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata, into the ADC.

Out of the blue, some hoodlums attacked the party chieftains in the house of Odigie-Oyegun. His compound gate was riddled with bullet holes. Some vehicles had their windshields smashed. The ADC secretariat in Benin and surroundings showed signs of vandalism. Tables, chairs and some other valuables were destroyed. People sustained injuries.

Lagos witnessed this type of violence in January this year. Some LP members decided to gather in Alimosho LGA to announce their defection to the ADC. From nowhere, over 100 armed thugs appeared and disrupted the programme. They not only destroyed some party property, they also assaulted party officials and members, who fled for their lives. Many of them sustained injuries. The hoodlums reportedly chanted hostile slogans and declared that LP and ADC were not welcome in Lagos State.

This was the same story in Kaduna on August 30, 2025. The ADC had convened an inaugural transition committee meeting to harmonise coalition members from different political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the banner of the ADC. Hardly had the meeting started than thugs invaded the venue, attacked people and destroyed some property. A number of people sustained injuries. A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, alleged that senior police officers, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police, were present but failed to take any action to stop the hoodlums.

It was the turn of Kebbi State in September 2025. Suspected thugs attacked the convoy of a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in Birnin Kebbi. He is a leader of the ADC in Kebbi. Many vehicles were reportedly destroyed during the attack. Some supporters of Malami sustained various degrees of injuries. The former AGF alleged that the thugs came out from the APC state headquarters. But APC denied the charge and strongly condemned the incident.

In Ekiti State, it was a similar pattern. ADC members had gathered to inaugurate ward, council and state executives in October 2025. Pronto, thugs appeared and dispersed them by shooting into the air.

They set the ADC secretariat in Ado-Ekiti ablaze and destroyed some other valuables. They forced party members and journalists to flee and wounded some others.   

The question is, where are all these programmed attacks coming from? Who is behind them? Who wants the coalition of opposition parties dead? The ADC blames the APC for these incidents. In a statement last week, it described the latest attack on the party’s secretariat in Ubima, Rivers State, as a direct assault on democracy, political tolerance and the constitutional rights of Nigerians to freely associate and participate in the democratic process.

It is difficult to believe that the ruling party, which now has 30 of the 36 state governors, is behind this. What is the party afraid of? Incidentally, Nigeria has almost become a one-party state. The remaining six governors who belong to the opposition parties are just marking time. It may not be long before all of them will defect to the ruling APC.

For now, the PDP still controls three states – Bauchi, Oyo, and Zamfara. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) controls Anambra. Accord Party is in charge in Osun State, while the LP is in control of Abia. Though Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, belongs to APGA, he does not pretend about his support for Tinubu and the APC. He probably has his eyes at the centre after his tenure as governor in Anambra.

The Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, is set to join the APC. He is said to have concluded consultations on political realignment in the state. Many community leaders and political groups in the state had appealed to the governor to consider joining the ruling party. To them, joining the APC will accelerate development and security interventions from the centre.

Lawal had lamented recently that, since he assumed office in 2023, his state had not received federal intervention funds to cushion rising cost of living, which many states controlled by the APC had received.

“I know states that have received over N500 billion from the federal government as palliative, but I have never received anything. I think the reason I don’t get it is because I’m not in the APC,” he said. This reflects the intense political pressure the opposition governors face for not joining the APC.   

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State used to be part of the gang of four governors loyal to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike. He is the only serving governor now while the other four have left office.

Even in his state, the PDP is factionalised. One faction is loyal to him. The other faction is loyal to Wike. Thugs attacked the Wike-backed faction when it held its local government congresses across Oyo State last Saturday. They damaged many vehicles. Some people sustained injuries.

Last January, Makinde was in Aso Villa to meet with Tinubu. Though he said he was comfortable in the PDP, it should not surprise anyone if he eventually defects to the APC in no distant time.

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State would have gone to the APC if it’s easy for him. He chose Accord Party to contest the August 15, 2026, election in the state because he could not easily displace those who have been in the APC for long. Governor Alex Otti of Abia State appears confused for now. His party, the LP is in crisis. His leaving the party is a matter of time. Since the ADC has not found its footing yet, he may be eyeing the APC, but that is if the hawks in the ruling party will allow him. Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi cannot remain in the PDP alone. He will also want to move to the ruling party when the coast is clear.

I don’t blame these governors. They are fighting for survival and political relevance. It has become a question of if you can’t beat them, you join them. That is the stage Nigeria has reached.

Unfortunately, we have refused to learn from history. The level of political intolerance in this dispensation is exactly what led to the collapse of the First and Second Republics. In each of those Republics, disenchanted soldiers intervened when things got out of hand. Sadly, the first coup precipitated a chain reaction that led to the devastating civil war.

Let the current emperors learn from former dictator, Sani Abacha. He had wanted to transmute from military Head of State into a civilian President. He intimidated and imprisoned many of those who opposed him. Some paid the supreme sacrifice. Despite this, many sycophantic groups emerged to sing his praises. They planned a one-million-man march for him. In the nick of time, providence struck and took him away.

Ironically, many of the turncoats who sang praise songs for the dictator had a 360-degree turnaround when he died. They are big players in the current political dispensation while the majority of those who fought for this democracy are sidelined. Many of our politicians have no principles. Their second name is AGIP – Any Government In Power. Once you are out of power, many of those who court you and tell you that you are the best thing to have happened to Nigeria will not reckon with you anymore. It is pathetic.

With what is going on now, I have lost total confidence in the 2027 general election. The attacks and suppression of the opposition today signpost what will happen then. There is no need deceiving ourselves. In 2023, Peter Obi won against Bola Tinubu in Lagos and some other APC strongholds. I seriously doubt if they will allow that to happen again. But whatever happens, the election will be between the power grabbers and the traumatized, hungry Nigerian masses. No doubt, good will triumph over evil one day.