In July, 2025, opposition politicians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, Senator David Mark, among others settled for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the “coalition party,” for the 2027 general elections. The objective was to enable the opposition to present a united front against President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s polls.

However, in a twist, Obi, alongside former Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who joined the ADC recently, early this week dumped the opposition party for the newly registered Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

In this interview with NDUBUISI ORJI, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, speaks about the exit of Obi and Kwankwaso, alongside some of their supporters, from the ADC and what that means for the ADC and the opposition in the 2027 polls. Abdullahi also speaks on ADC’s legal battles, among other issues.

What is the state of the ADC vis-a-vis current developments? Last week the Supreme Court referred you back to the Federal High Court for the suit bordering on the leadership of the party and since last Sunday there have been some movements out of the ADC…

ADC is the party that we’ve been trying to build in the last two years or so. When we got the Supreme Court judgment last week, it was a good development for us. And the fact that the Supreme Court judgment removed the encumbrance that has stopped the David Mark leadership from acting, from providing leadership for the party and running the party, you know, was in itself a cause for celebration. We know some people were asking, why are we celebrating, especially when we are still very far? Of course, for us, it was a major victory.

The fact is that before the Supreme Court ruling, INEC was not dealing with us, and the party was effectively without leadership. But what the Supreme Court judgment did was to restore leadership to the party and created a condition where the party can begin to move forward again. And as you can see, we’ve announced dates for our primaries, and we’re going to field candidates in all elections. That would not have been possible before the Supreme Court judgment. So that is significant.

So, saying that we should return to the Federal High Court is neither here nor there. I mean, because the Federal High Court case had always been there. All those cases have always been there. But that has not been our problem, because we’re dealing with them. Our problem was the action taken by INEC to deregister the leadership of David Mack, or to derecognise the leadership of David Mack. That was the major encumbrance we had. And that was what the Supreme Court removed. So, saying that we should go back to the Federal High Court is not anything essential.

But for us, why did we come to ADC? We came to ADC because we were dissatisfied with the situations in other political parties, the condition that the federal government has created in those other political parties. That was the number one reason that we formed and built the coalition.

And we’re not satisfied with the way the APC government was running the country, and we felt that we had a duty to mobilise Nigerians and to move the country in a different direction. Those objectives are still there. Anyone that believes that the country is moving in the wrong direction, we will work with that person.

So, for us, that is the cardinal objective of the African Democratic Congress as a coalition. People give the impression that we have many court cases. We have three court cases, and those court cases are not as significant as they make it appear. So, ADC today is not encumbered by any legal challenge. And that is why we were able to release a timetable for our primaries.

The second issue of people who left for another party. Is it a setback? Of course it is. Is it such a problem for us? The answer is no. Because there is a way you look at it as a challenge, but there is a way you also look at it as an opportunity. Why is it a challenge? The challenge is that, okay, everything we’re planning, we’re planning with these people in mind, that they were part of our party.

Now they left, so it means that suddenly we will have a reason to now begin to re-calibrate and see how we move forward. To that extent, it’s a challenge. But how is it an opportunity? It’s an opportunity because now we no longer have the kind of pressure cooker environment that they created.

Because they were looking for a party that would guarantee them tickets, regardless of what happened to other aspirants. And ADC is not that kind of party. So that’s why we said the party they’ve gone to now is probably the party they needed in the first place. A party that belonged to one man that could even guarantee them tickets before they came into the party.

Maybe that’s the party they need. But for us, building a party like the African Democratic Congress and the kind of coalition we’re trying to build, there was no way we would have been able to promise them those kinds of things, without going through the due process that a political party should go through, which is the primaries.

You have a case in the Federal High Court which is bordering on leadership of the ADC…

Yes.

Some persons are of the view that that creates a kind of uncertainty, such that if the David Mark leadership fields candidates and they win elections, and that judgment does not go in favour of this leadership, that it may be an exercise in futility…