The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed the coalition led by the African Democratic Congress (ADC), accusing its members of lacking a clear ideological foundation and being united only by their hatred for the president.
On Wednesday, coalition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, and ex-Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, unveiled the ADC as the platform to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Thursday, Onanuga said the coalition, which includes several former members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is composed of “desperados” driven by personal ambition rather than genuine concern for the Nigerian people.
He wrote, “Some members of the hijacked ADC, who were reported as members of the APC, left the APC years and months ago. Let the public not be deceived by the opposition’s narrative about their relevance or whether the APC will mourn their departure.”
He listed former minister Rotimi Amaechi, ex-attorney general Abubakar Malami, former aviation minister Hadi Sirika, and ex-Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola among those who have either distanced themselves from the APC or were expelled. He also named Kashim Imam and former APC national chairman John Odigie Oyegun as discontented figures seeking political relevance.
Onanuga warned Nigerians to be cautious of the coalition, stating, “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.
“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.
“What is certain is that the group will soon unravel due to their irreconcilable personal ambitions.”
