The 2023 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other coalition members of desperate attempts to hijack the ADC.
Kachikwu, who spoke during a press conference on Thursday, described the coalition led by Atiku and some other major opposition politicians as a political gang.
According to him, the coalition is offering some ADC state chairmen as much as ₦20,000,000 to resign from their positions.
He argued that the interest of the coalition members is not about rescuing Nigerians, but about rescuing themselves from the harsh economic realities that have faced them since they left political offices.
Naijaonpoint reports Kachikwu also denied claims that he is on the payroll of President Bola Tinubu.
“There is a lot of deliberate misinformation going on by these agents of destabilisation masquerading as a political coalition. There is a clear difference between a political coalition and a political gang.
“The first has noble ideals, while the gang seeks power for personal gains. What we have here today is a gang unable to survive outside political office seeking to hijack the ADC as a means to revive their personal economies. They are truly on a rescue mission, but it is a mission to rescue themselves from the harsh economic realities which they themselves created for our nation.
“They accuse me of being a paid spokesperson for President Tinubu, and my response is this: it would be an honour to be a spokesperson for the president of the largest Black nation on earth, but unfortunately, that’s not who I am. Political jobbers who have no visible means of livelihood are always eager to tar others, but I remain unfazed.
They, with the active support of their cohorts in the media, now say they are the ADC: they are not. I can call myself the president of America till I am blue in the face, but it doesn’t make it so. They are offering some of the state chairmen as much as N20,000,000 to resign their positions, which goes to show that their intentions are not honourable,” the former presidential candidate said.
Kachikwu added that the coalition can’t take over the ADC because their actions are against the constitution of Nigeria.
He also countered claims by Bolaji Abdullahi that he can’t speak for the ADC, arguing that every party member is a stakeholder.
“My question to this gang is this: if you succeed in paying off all the ADC party officials at state and local government levels to resign, what next? Our constitution still doesn’t allow you to assume those offices. This is the plain and simple truth. Your money will get you nowhere in the ADC.
“If you have to build your rescue mission on fraudulent misrepresentation, it just shows who you really are.
“The imposter who claims he is their spokesperson made bold to say that I am merely the former presidential candidate of the party and not a party official. His pedestrian argument is that only party officials can challenge party affairs. This is the same elitist ignorance that brought Nigeria to this point where we believe Nigeria is only for the rich and powerful. Bolaji, please be informed that every member of our party, no matter how poor you people have made them, has a say in the ADC,” Kachikwu added.