Bolaji Abdullahi is the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview, he speaks on his party being the viable alternative for the opposition in Nigeria and the Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi conundrum ahead of the 2027 general election, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports
What chance does your party stand in the 2027 presidential election, when it looks like the election has been won and lost in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC)?
I will start on the note that you ended your comment, which is that 2027 election appears to have been won and lost. That’s exactly the mindset of inevitability the ruling party would like to create; to create a situation where everyone will think that there’s nothing we can do, that no matter what we do, they are going to win anyway.
That’s exactly the kind of mindset they are going to create. But if you are familiar with Nigeria’s recent political journey, you will recall that as recently as 2007, PDP controlled 31 states out of 36, leaving only maybe four states in the North and Lagos State.
But you will recall that the election of 2007 still had to be heavily rigged. It was one of the most discredited elections in Nigerian history. In 2011, it was the same thing. Despite the overwhelming control that the PDP had across the country, they still had to massively rig those elections by popular reports.
So, what we are seeing is just a case of history repeating itself. We are not surprised. You say we don’t have any governors. We don’t have any governors because these governors, who are joining the ruling party, are not doing so because they are convinced by anything going on in APC.
They are all pandering to one vulnerability or another or looking for an easy way out. It takes conviction; it takes character, it takes courage, it takes belief in the nation itself for you to join the opposition party even when you are a sitting governor. And that’s what these individuals lack. So, it’s easy for them to go and join APC but we are not bothered about that.
The ruling party or the president may have succeeded in bringing all the governors to their side and uniting all the governors under their party but what about the people. Have they been able to unite the people? Let’s take North Central, for example, Benue, Plateau and all that. They are able to get the governors but what about the people? Will they be able to convince the people that they actually represent the best option for them?
That is the task that they will not be able to do because every Nigerian today understands what is going on. No amount of whitewashing can remove the reality that Nigerians are confronted with. And that is where ADC’s strength comes from, to continue to appeal to the people, to continue to position ourselves as the only alternative to the ruling party and what they have done to Nigerians in the last three and a half years or so.
We were recently in Asaba, Delta State to unveil the 28th state headquarters of the ADC within the five months that we have come on board as an opposition political party without a single political officeholder, but propelled only by the enthusiasm of Nigerians who are committed to seeing democracy survive in the country.
If you look at the ADC, you would compare it to the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, which was considered to be the third force. But we see just two years down the line that the party cannot stand strong anymore. What are some of the lessons that the ADC can pick from that experience? I think we have overtaken the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the main opposition party because like I heard peoples ask: Which PDP are you talking about; is it this PDP or that PDP?
So, today, the de facto opposition party in Nigeria is the ADC. But having said that; the Labour Party or even the PDP have their internal issues and mismanagement of some issues but the most important thing that we have to underline here is that they did not just happen. The ruling party had done everything to destabilize the opposition parties. In the first place, ADC has come about because of the nonviability of these other political parties.
But the destabilization of PDP, Labour Party and Social Democratic Party (SDP) is what has led to politicians in these respective parties to find refuge in the ADC. However, I will say that if we are not careful, if we don’t build an alternative political platform, Nigeria is inevitably heading towards a one-party state. And that is why what this government is doing.
They are quick to intervene in Benin Republic to use the military to restore democracy. But back home in Nigeria, they are using legalism and judiciary to undermine democracy. What is democracy? Democracy is about choice, about competition. It’s about a level playing ground for all the political parties. But they are actively undermining opposition political parties in Nigeria, while posturing as a savior of democracy in the region. If that is not hypocrisy, then what it is? Even as we have this conversation, they are not letting go.
The still continue to bring one obstacle or one legal issues or the other, even against the ADC. And you wonder what exactly they want to achieve. It is very clear. They know that on the record of what they have done in the last three years or so, no Nigerian that has suffered what he or she has suffered will support the ruling party. So, what they want to do is to present it with no choice in 2027. So, when Nigerians look around and they have no alternative, they will say, okay, let’s go with them. But what they are doing is undermining democracy.
APC today represents the greatest threat to Nigerian democracy because of what they are doing. A couple of days back; some people came out and said they are asking the Independent National Electoral Election (INEC) to deregister ADC on some funny grounds. But we know where that is coming from. The individuals involved in that, we know them and we know who they work for. So, this is a thing that we have to solve.
The greatest challenge for a lot of Nigerians as we speak is the fear that Atiku and Obi will not work together in the ADC. Some say that the ADC is Atiku’s next special purpose vehicle to be able to run for presidency. Obi has been brought into the fray, but he has not officially committed. The sticking point will be when they have the primaries. In a case where Obi does not emerge, he may not want to be a running mate to Atiku. He might probably find his way to another party, and that will equally split votes.What is your take in all these?
I may not describe the situation in such superlative terms to say that it’s the greatest threat at the moment, but is it a conundrum? Yes. Is it a challenge? Yes. Is this something we are concerned about? Yes. We have also tried to maintain that it’s not just about Atiku and Obi. Nobody in ADC at this time is having conversation about who the presidential candidate will be because we are more or less, relatively speaking, in the context of where we have come from, a new political party.
So, we have so much work to do to establish our presence, real presence, to be in position to contest election in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
So, this has preoccupied us in the last couple of months, but we know that is an issue we have to deal with. The most important thing is at this time is that when we get to that point we will try to engineer a consensus, which is an option for us. But if we are not able to do a consensus, we’ll possibly just open it up for everyone to contest. And it’s not just about Atiku and Obi.
There are other people who are also interested in contesting the presidential race. So, we have to make allowance that it’s not a settled case between just Atiku and Obi. I agree with you, it’s an option, but there are also other options that we are looking at. There are other political parties that were also having conversation with about how to build a formidable coalition, even within this coalition, and to see what is possible.
