The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has asserted that the top opposition coalition figures in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are using the Labour Party (LP)’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, without a genuine plan to hand him the party’s presidential ticket.
Naijaonpoint reports that Keyamo, in a statement on Wednesday, June 2, 2025, said the coalition will lose Peter Obi’s supporters if they fail to hand him the presidential ticket.
Keyamo stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is unbothered by the coalition, stressing that the party has grown stronger since the 2023 election, while the opposition has weakened since then.
He said, “The person who the old, cunning guards want to take for a ride in all of this is Peter Obi. They want his votes, but don’t want to give him their presidential ticket, because this is Atiku’s show simpliciter.
“If you do not give Peter Obi the presidential ticket, you lose his supporters. It is as simple as that. And how can you make someone who won two regions in the last election — South-East and South-South — a running mate to the person who won only one region — North-East?
“When the dust settles, you’ll discover that PDP and Labour Party have lost something, the ADC has only gained something like a caricature, but the APC has lost absolutely nothing.
“Since the 2023 elections, the APC has become stronger, whilst the opposition parties have been fragmented and have become weaker. For now, let us face governance and allow them exercise their constitutional right to associate and assemble.”
Keyamo also described the movement of top opposition figures into ADC as a development that has significantly strengthened the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He argued that the public’s alignment with the ADC constitutes an effective abandonment of the individuals’ original parties, warning that such cross-party affiliations are unconstitutional.
Keyamo also asserted that the coalition is a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in desperate search for the 2027 presidential ticket.
He said, “What happened with the movement of the so-called ‘coalition’ into the ADC is the greatest factor that has strengthened the APC ahead of the 2027 elections. By law, you cannot operate from, or belong to, two or multiple political parties.
“So, it is safe to say that their open declaration for ADC today is a clear abandonment of their previous parties. In fact, belonging to two political parties is a ground for disqualification in an election.
“The majority of the old guard in the PDP — who have apparently lost control of the party — have been pushed out by the younger Turks.
“That is why the gathering today was a conglomerate of ‘former this’ and ‘former that’ of the PDP. No matter how you look at it, this is just Atiku’s faction of PDP in desperate search for the 2027 presidential ticket — nothing more, nothing less.”
He downplayed the impact of the coalition on the APC, insisting it posed no threat to the ruling party.
He added, “The other addition to the so-called coalition is a sprinkling of APC members who worked against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the last election, and one or two APC leaders who lost their constituencies to opposition parties in 2023.
“Their movement, therefore, takes nothing away from the APC. It is actually better for the APC because it is just a case of totally extracting the germ that was eating the cola nut from within.”