The Presidency has reacted to Wednesday’s unveiling of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the new platform for Nigeria’s 2027 opposition coalition, describing the alliance as a gathering of “desperados hungry for power” who are motivated by self-interest rather than national progress.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, issued a statement after opposition leaders convened at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja for an event marking the official launch of the coalition. The gathering was attended by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Also present were former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, both of whom were announced as the interim National Chairman and National Secretary of the ADC, respectively.
In his statement, Onanuga dismissed the event as a “charade” and ridiculed its participants as failed politicians seeking relevance. According to him, “These politicians are desperados, hungry for power, not for the benefit of Nigerians but for themselves. They want power at all costs because they cannot endure another four years in the political wilderness or be banished to political winter and irrelevance.”
He argued that many of the individuals paraded at the ADC launch had long abandoned the APC or were no longer relevant within the ruling party. He said Amaechi had effectively exited the party in 2022 following his loss at the presidential primary to President Tinubu, while Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General of the Federation, had distanced himself from the APC after failing in his governorship ambition in Kebbi State. Onanuga also referenced Hadi Sirika, who he said is currently facing trial over contract fraud, and Aregbesola, whom he labelled a “renegade” expelled for anti-party activities in the Osun governorship election.
He further dismissed other attendees, such as Kashim Imam and former APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie Oyegun, as disillusioned figures with no remaining influence in the APC, noting that Imam disappeared from party activities after failing to clinch the vice-presidential ticket, while Oyegun had been part of the new coalition from its earliest days.
Onanuga warned Nigerians not to be deceived by what he described as a coalition without ideology or a clear agenda. “My advice to Nigerians: keep your eyes wide open. A political party with no clear agenda or ideology—whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu—cannot be good for our country. It will only set us back by decades.”
He said he was confident that the coalition would inevitably disintegrate due to what he called the “irreconcilable personal and political ambitions” of its members.