.Leaders self centered, merchants of vendetta, says APC
.No threat to President’s second term -Support Group
.Peter Obi formally joins ADC, dumps Labour Party
.As Plateau ADC chairman backs coalition
CYRIL MBAH, Abuja and IBRAHIM QUADRI, Lagos
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa and other chieftains of All Progressives Congress, APC have described the African Democratic Congress, ADC as a stillborn party that lacks capability to unseat the ruling party.
A former President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, Peter Obi, former Governors of Kaduna, Nasir El-rufai, Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi and other notable politicians across parties, on Wednesday unveiled ADC to unseat President Bola Tinubu come 2027.
However, Sanwo-Olu and others gave the remarks during APC mega rally (Lagos West 1, Senatorial District) at Ifako Mini Stadium, Lagos, saying the new party cannot take power from the ruling one.
The rally was part of the campaign strategies ahead of the Local Government elections scheduled to take place on July 12 across the 57 council areas of the State.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat said, “We are proud of our party, what we need to do is to make Asiwaju proud by July 12. Your PVC is the power to prove that day.
“You can see that there are fundamental achievements by the President as well as the achievements being recorded at the State level in Lagos State.
“We are the only party in Lagos State. Go out and mobilize your neighbours. The President is re-engineering our country. We are the party of the people and we are proud of this.
“The local government is the foundation, so we will deliver and then come victorious in 2027,” he stated.
The Governor added, “All the candidates are here, they are people you know, they are not unknown, so give them support.”
Obasa said, “The essence of coming here today is to ensure we deliver. So reach out to the people of Lagos irrespective of tribes and religions. You can see here we have the Igbos, Hausas and South-South.
“So success is ours. The other parties in Nigeria are in disarray, they are just flexing muscles.
Umbrella is torn. Even the ADC is paperweight.”
The Speaker argued that “When a woman is conceived, it takes nine months for the womb to grow and after delivery, you need to nurture the baby to maturity, so whatever they are putting together in ADC is irrelevant.”
He explained that the President has been doing well to ensure dividends of democracy get to the people.
He also advised the members to get their PVC ready and charged them to mobilize for the party’s victory.
Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, GOS asked the members to embark on door to door campaign, saying “APC will continue to win and win over again.
A member of the House of Representatives, Abiodun Faleke stated that there are no other parties in Lagos, saying “All other political parties are filled with confusion.
They are just eager to take power.”
A Leader of the party who is a member of the Governance Advisory Council, GAC, Prince Rabiu Oluwa said initially when the President came up with reforms, there were pains, noting “You can see now things are beginning to take shape.”
He added, “You party members should come out en masse to vote and mobilize, don’t say results have been written, because we are ready to prove APC is in charge in Lagos State.”
Equally, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has issued a belated response to the coalition group mockingly stating that the “vaunted opposition coalition platform of choice, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) unveiled on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 with a gasping whimper, and was not the roar that its promoters loudly touted.”
In a statement issued on Thursday night by Barrister Felix Morka, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, the party stated that in reality, it was an unveiling of “a coalition of hoaxers and self-obsessed merchants of vendetta, a roll call of Nigeria’s me-or-nothing politicians, who equate their selfish interests with the interests of Nigerians, who cannot bear to be out of the corridors of power and patronage, who are desperate to grab power for themselves by guile and subterfuge, who lay claim to an immoral birthright to power, even while draped in odious record of betrayal of public trust, and rapacious public service.”
“Not surprisingly, the speech delivered by Senator David Mark, the alleged National Chairman of ADC, was disgracefully vacant, without substance or purpose, nothing but stitches of untruths, diatribe, and regurgitated and baseless allegations against the APC-led administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“From beginning to end, Senator Mark said nothing about the purpose of the so-called coalition other than a loud declaration of desperation for power.
What value does the coalition bring to Nigerians? Why should any Nigerian be concerned about a coalition of a bunch of egotistical maniacs for whom power and patronage are the oxygen on which their lives depend?
“One would have expected that, after months of vacillating between the devil and the deep blue sea, in search of a host platform, Senator Mark and his co-travelers would take Nigerians seriously enough by telling them what their coalition would do differently regarding the administration’s bold economic and sectoral policy reforms.
What key alternative policy approaches would the coalition implement, and with what prospects of success compared to the high value and transformative impact of the administration’s reform policies?
What exactly is the philosophical or ideological leaning of the coalition or its new party, aside from desperation for power at all cost, by all means necessary and unnecessary?
“Senator Mark’s speech was loud in its silence to these questions because himself and his coalition partners are disgracefully clueless, without a care or concern about Nigeria and Nigerians, only filled with wolfish quest for power for their own mendacious end.
They must think Nigerians to be gullible and uncritical. Quite to the contrary, Nigerians are highly perceptive and discerning and will not be taken in by the coalition’s grand folly.
“This desperation is the reason for their willful blindness to the massive structural transformation of our country’s economy that has earned the praise and admiration of local and global economic experts, and now delivering improved living conditions and benefits to our people – with GDP growth rate of 3.4%; with external reserves from $4billion in 2023 to excess of $24billion in 2024.
Cleared backlog of forex debt and CBN ways and means; debt service-to-revenue ratio from about 99% to 40%; with initial reform-induced inflation spike upwards of 31% in 2024 now tampered to 22% in 2025 and still declining; with rapidly declining prices of basic commodities; and with our farmers earning more than they have ever earned.”
The statement said that it was surprising that even with our oil exports at an all time high; with unprecedented quarter on quarter trade surpluses; with vast stability in foreign exchange market; with states and local governments enjoying vastly increased revenue allocation; with unprecedented access to student loan; and with stable academic calendars free from strike disruptions.
With massive uptake in delivery of modern road and other transport infrastructure; with thousands of health care facilities built, revamped and upgraded; with determined war on terror and banditry that has yielded the neutralization and arrests of nearly 40,000 fighters; with many notable achievements in power, interior, aviation sectors; and with implementation of new minimum wage and significant impact of various social investment programmes, the opposition elements would stop at nothing to denigrate the success and transformative impact of reform policies for their own base interests.
The APC said that while coalition members remain preoccupied swimming in mud and throwing bricks, “the party and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remain undisturbed and focused on using all available bricks to build a stronger, enduring and more prosperous nation for this and future generations of Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has formally dumped the LP.
He joined Opposition Coalition under the platform of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
The coalition on Wednesday adopted the ADC as its new platform with former Senate President, David Mark as interim national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as secretary.
Obi said that the decision to quit the LP was not taken lightly.
Reacting in a statement on his 𝕏 handle on Thursday morning, apparently in response to LP’s 48-hour ultimatum to resign, Obi said the coalition’s commitment was to sacrifice and work together towards the 2027 general elections.
According to him, the coalition would ensure that Nigeria got competent, capable, and compassionate leadership.
The decision to adopt the ADC he said, came from deep reflection on “where we are as a country and what must be done to move forward.”
His statement read: “Yesterday, the coalition members formally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 Nigeria General Elections with Distinguished Senator David Mark serving as the National Chairman and H.E. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola served as the National Secretary.
“Our commitment is to sacrifice and work together towards the 2027 General Elections, ensuring that Nigeria gets a competent, capable, and compassionate leadership that will prioritise the nation’s future by putting the welfare of Nigerians first.
“This decision was not made lightly. It comes from deep reflection on where we are as a country and what must be done to move forward.
“No one group can change Nigeria alone. To dismantle the structures that keep our people in poverty and insecurity, we must build bridges, not walls even when those bridges are uneasy.”
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