ADC Alleges Intimidation Against Governors Willing To Join Party

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, made this claim on the sidelines of the third plenary session of the Northern Political Consultative Group (NOCG) held in Abuja on Saturday.

Asked why it has been difficult for serving governors to identify with the opposition coalition, Mallam Abdullahi said: “We don’t need to particularly target any serving governor. We know that no serving governor will want to join us now because of the kind of intimidation they are facing.

“We know what they are doing to them. Some of them who cannot jump to their party are saying we are endorsing their presidential candidate. No problem. But what you are seeing is a conspiracy against the Nigerian people.

“The ADC welcomes everybody, but we are convinced that we are a movement that has the backing of the majority of Nigerians who are not happy with the direction this country is going,” he said.

On whether the party fears being hijacked, the spokesperson replied: “No, ADC is not… the process for building the party ensures that the party does not coalesce around any individual. And as I repeatedly emphasised, the ADC is not built for anybody’s ambition. ADC is a party that is determined to give a different trajectory to Nigerian politics.

“We don’t have any predetermined agenda. We don’t have any favourite aspirant or candidate. We are not having any conversation at the moment. Nobody has ever had any conversation about who will be the party’s flag bearer. We believe it is too early in the day.

“Our focus now is to build a political party that is strong enough to deliver on the mission that we have set for ourselves,” he said.

In the same vein, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, claimed that the whole of the North has decided to join ADC, stressing: “The ADC, as a political party, is a party that is founded on democratic principles. We are going to conduct congresses and conventions to elect our representatives for the election.

“And whoever emerges—be it from the North, South, Central, or West—whoever emerges at either the congresses or at the convention, ADC will support, and the NPCG will support that decision.”