National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr Ralph Nwosu, said that choice of the party as platform for the proposed coalition to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is because of its panNigeria outlook. He spoke in a television interview monitored by ONYEKACHI EZE
Has your party the ADC been adopted as the coalition party or is it still under consideration?
From the time ADC was established, the intention was to bring Nigerians together. From 2007, when we first had Prof. Pat Utomi as our presidential candidate, the intention was to bring all Nigerians together.
This time, almost 20 years after, Nigerians have seen why ADC is a party. If there is any party that was tactfully put together, it is ADC.
Let me tell you why ADC will be considered by well-meaning Nigerians and patriots. I don’t know what is being considered now because I have a different assignment, we have different committees but in ADC, you cannot discuss leadership, political or otherwise in Nigeria with Nigeria in isolation.
It must be Africa focused and Nigeria has almost 20 per cent of the population of Africa. One in every five black persons in the world is a Nigerian.
So, anybody who wants to be president or who wants to operate in a political sphere cannot ignore Nigeria. Nigeria means a lot as far as Africa is concerned. So, when we thought about this party, we agreed that policies must be African focused, continental and then global.
ADC is broad minded and not parochial. What we have seen is that the other parties are not even Nigerian minded, they are ethnic, and that is not right. For us to get our politics right, ADC is about transformation. The party was established to put Nigerians of the driving seat of transformation and development.
Secondly, is our symbol, the handshake. We are so disunited, so inclusion is critical. Handshake is about love, coming together. From the day we dreamt about ADC, we imagined the day especially October 1, when all Nigerians will get up and shake the hands of their neighbours as a symbol of national unity. That dream will be actualised this year.
Tell us why you think the dream will be actualised. Is it because your party is likely to be chosen as a platform to be used to challenge President Bola Tinubu?
Nigerians have started to come to the realisation that inclusion is critical.
You are speaking generally. If there is anything that will be done to challenge Tinubu in 2027, how is it going to be done?
ADC has started a process in the last 16 months and what we have been doing is that beyond all the political talks about political leaders, we needed to touch the grassroots because the situation in the country will either one day call for citizen’s revolt or patriot’s coalition.
To what extent has ADC been approached on the proposed coalition?
The conversations are in three folds. As national chairman and chairman of National Consultative Organ, dealing with citizens and some patriots, my job is different.
Then Dr. Bamidele Jamilu Jade, one of the deputy national chairmen is coordinating some arms of the political parties.
Dr. Mani Ibrahim Ahmad is also dealing with stakeholders in political parties. So, what I can tell you as the chairman is what we have done with the citizens and civil organisations.
It’s like you don’t want to talk about the coalition. You can’t be the national chairman and you will not know if there is a discussion going on about your party.
I want to give you all the details. The different committees have met all the stakeholders. You mentioned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, you mentioned former presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi and Nasir ElRufai, they have met all of them.
They have met a lot more, they have met Rotimi Amaechi, they have met almost all those who ran for president in 2023 either as aspirants or candidates.
Dr. Ahmad have also met all the political parties. A lot of stakeholders have bought into our ideas and a few of the political parties also have bought in. So, why it is difficult to say what happened 100 percent is that it is not about them agreeing among themselves.
We want to put Nigeria on a clear trajectory for transformation and to show leadership in Africa and for people to have belief in democracy again because democracy is dying in Africa
They have even signed a document to work together, but for us, the balancing is: Do we want to work with these people because we are consulting with the citizens and civil societies? So, there is gong to be a final meeting between the civil society group and the citizens group as well as the critical stakeholders.
Does ADC have an ideology which these people are able to connect with or is ADC just a vehicle which they want to use to challenge President Tinubu?
Sometime last year, ADC had a summit at Arewa House in Kaduna and we made it clear that any politician who thinks that ADC is a vehicle for going to where they want to go, must think again because that has made parties to become the weakest link in the chain of our democratic system.
That is wrong because the weakest link cannot create leaders that can create the kind of transformation that we want. ADC is certainly not the vehicle.
In our handshake, it has serious philosophical input, inclusion, respect and welfare of the people. Africanism, the African people must assert themselves that is why transformational leadership is critical as far as ADC is concerned.
The country’s foreign policy has always been Africa and the rest of the world. So, you are not bringing anything new…
You know that in Nigeria, sometimes we say that we don’t want that dichotomy of ethnicity and religion that it is causing so much problems. In most of the parties, you will see deputy chairman (North), deputy chairman (South).
In some of the things we do, if you want to erase certain things, you stop highlighting them. In ADC for instance, we don’t have somebody for North and another person South.
It creates the dichotomy that we don’t want. What we have is deputy national chairman that is function based. When you go through our DNA and the things we do, we have given our pamphlets to these leaders because we must start a new cause.
Most Nigerian have come to accept the zoning of presidency between the North and South, and it is the turn of the South at the moment. Do you buy into that zoning arrangement?
While we are not parochial, we are very mindful because leadership must be very mindful. Being the national chairman of a big coalition that is being formed, I have also heard from a lot of youth groups and they will say, ‘you know it is the turn of the South’.
They have made the point, but one day, we were taken aback when some young people came and said, we talk about equity in Nigeria, but you know what, since this democracy began, the North has done 10 years and the South has done 18 years.
They said that if the South were to take another four years after Tinubu’s first tenure, it will not become 22 years to 10 years of the North. So, it is not that straight forward but the stakeholders are meeting and proper decisions will be taken.
If that was the case, then nobody would have supported Tinubu in 2023 after eight years of Buhari…
Why I am emphasizing that is that people come with different arguments. That is not the view of our party and that is not what the coalition is relying on.
In the contest of your party’s philosophy, do you have any sense of somebody you would like to be on the driving seat of this coalition?
I tell the people that If I remain the national chairman of ADC as at the time of the coalition, I only have one vote and that is the only vote that I will exercise. By the time the coalition is formed, you do your lobbying across. If I stop being chairman, I can work for anyone of them.
You have been the national chairman of ADC since 2006; that’s a long time to be in that position…
Sure, but party building to the sophistication where we are now is not a tea party, I can assure you.
But it sounds almost undemocratic…
You can do that with parties that are already stabilized. If I have left the driver’s seat, may be this party would have been deregistered and it wouldn’t play the critical role we envisioned it to play.
You can imagine a situation where as national chairman, you burn over N200 to N500 million every year running a public trust. How many Nigerians can run a public trust selflessly and put in this kind of money? I have done that. I did that also when we formed APGA.
I paid all the registration fees for APGA and I took that party to Anambra State and I set it up in every ward and I used it to deliver the governor at the same time although I was cheated but it doesn’t matter anymore. I am open minded; I am a builder. You don’t build and allow it to fall like a pack of cards.
Since 2005, over 103 political parties have been deregistered. It will be killing if I put in that kind of resources, and I think of what people will say, but I am ready to leave as national chairman the moment this coalition is formed.
Taking cognizance that you have been in the party for a long time; will you be concerned that some people will come in to dislodge you?
Not at all! In 2018, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo did a survey of all the political parties, he chose ADC because the character is there. When we had our discussion, he said: ‘We are trying to choose your political party but you will not be national chairman’ and I replied: ‘Mr. President, what am I doing with national chairman?
If people like you are taking over the party. I take it that the party is not going to be destroyed, it is going to serve the purpose for which we invested our time and money.’ For me, this is another critical opportunity.
When we started the party, I thought it is going to be four years just as I did with APGA, but by 2027, it will be 20 years that we started contesting election. If I started a journey that I thought that will be four years and by 20 years, we are getting there, then God is great.
The time to rescue Nigeria has come. We want to put Nigeria on a clear trajectory for transformation and to show leadership in Africa and for people to have belief in democracy again because democracy is dying in Africa. But with ADC, we will make it right, and the coalition within one week or two will crystalise.
What will your preference be? People coming into ADC to form a coalition or taking ADC to another party as part of the coalition?
The coalition has passed that stage and we cannot continue on party formation less than two years. The election is February 2027, the primary to elect candidate is around May 2026, it is less than a year. So, the ADC is well marketed.
Members of the Northern League of Democrats are pushing for a new party. They said that it will be better so that everyone will find space in the new party rather than coming into an existing party to avoid altercations. What is your take on that?
Even before the stakeholders started approaching ADC, they have tried everything. To start with; you do more fighting in a new party than taking an existing party that its national chairman says, ‘come I will be a floor member.’
A party is a public trust; it doesn’t belong to anybody. Some people came to me and said, chairman, you are the founder, when you resign, would you like to be the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, and I said, what I see here are over 10 serving governors and twenty something former governors, senators and so on.
I said I will be a floor member the day this holding crystalises and I will work to drive the process to the villa.
Having put in your energy into this party; are you not concerned that these may be opportunists trying to hijack your party?
We have seen such tendencies and we are working hard to tame it and bring people to a point of realization. That is why we have integrity and equilibration committee.
Some of the founding members and critical stakeholders are going to be there and I am going to be the chairman of that committee to make sure that we continue pursuing our philosophy, the character, the vision and everything and equilibration to make sure that equity continues to reign in the party.
Those guiding principles are already established. We will not fail I can assure you.
