Just when the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) thought the 2027 general elections, especially for the presidency, was already a walk over for it, there came the formal adoption of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) by the national opposition coalition bent on wrestling power from ruling party and President Bola Tinubu.
For the opposition coalition, it has been a long walk to where it is since what appeared like rumours came to the fore on March 20, 2025 when the then ‘concern political leaders’ made public their determination to work together for the election
After three months of that public declaration, the opposition coalition made attempts to register a fresh party, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) but faced some hurdles and palpable fears about the fate of the proposed platform, and settled for the already established ADC.
In what appears close to the February 2013 event when four major mostly defunct political parties — Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) merged into one party — (APC), the opposition coalition on Wednesday last week adopted ADC as a platform.
But unlike APC which was a merger of other political parties to produce one party, the ADC was adopted by top brass of opposition political parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party(LP) and even the ruling APC, among others.
As a lecturer in the department of political science, Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State, Dr Terna Vincent Tavershima said; “What happened in 2015 was not a coalition, it was a merger. Political parties dissolved their structures and then formed another political party that led to the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
“This which is called coalition is that the parties will not be dissolved into one political but what they will have to do is to present one presidential candidate so that all the political parties faithful will have to vote for that presidential candidate on his own political platform.”
During the unveiling, the then national chairman, Raph Nwosu, handed over to former Senate President David Mark of the PDP as the interim national chairman while former Osun governor and minister of interior Rauf Aregbesola assumed the position of national secretary.
Present at the unveiling were former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, former Rivers governor, Rotimi Amaechi; former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai; former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, former APC national chairman, John Oyegun; former PDP chairman, Uche Secondus and former deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.
Others included Aminu Tambuwal, a former governor of Sokoto State; Liyel Imoke, former governor of Cross River State, Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger State; Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa State; Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi State; Abubakar Malami, former attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice; Solomon Dalung, former minister of Youth and sports; Senator Ireti Kingibe( LP, FCT); Victor Umeh, the senator representing Anambra Central among others.
The interim national chairman, Mark in his inaugural remarks said the national opposition coalition which adopted the party as a platform was on a simple mission to rescue and rebuild the country as well as return power to the people.
The former president of the senate said the coalition under the banner of ADC was out to prevent the country’s descent into a one-party state orchestrated by the ruling APC.
“It is on record that within two years of the current administration coming to power, it has hijacked all democratic institutions and sent our country on a creeping descent into total civilian dictatorship. The blatant destabilisation and infiltration of all major opposition political parties is aimed at achieving only one objective, to enhance total state capture and leave Nigerians with no alternative or options in 2027. This coalition is to prevent our country’s descent into a one-party state.
“After extensive deliberations and discussions which spanned several months with deserving platforms, the coalition has decided to adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the vehicle for this historic journey.
“Having adopted the ADC, we commit ourselves to building and transforming it into a strong political party, not merely as another electoral vehicle but as a fortress and platform of our revived democracy. It will be the harbinger of democracy where members of the party will reign supreme,” Mark said.
While APC claimed it was undisturbed just as President Tinubu whom the party had since adopted a sole presidential candidate for the 2027 election, its reaction and some appointees sounded unsettling.
Rather than welcome the coalition’s adoption of the ADC like the PDP did when the merger that produced it materialised, the APC rather resorted to characterisation of those behind the move and outrightly dismissed it.
In 2013, the PDP through its then national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, congratulated the collaborating parties for what he called their successful merger and formation of the APC and said the development would deepen democracy.
“We congratulate the opposition for their successful merger and the formation of the All Progressives Congress. This is yet another victory for our democracy.
“It shows that our democracy has come of age. We hope that from now, we will see robust debates on the economy and other issues of governance,” he had said.
However, the APC through its national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, tagged the unveiling of the ADC as: “A Coalition of hoaxers, self-obessed merchants of vendetta.”
“The vaunted opposition coalition platform of choice, ADC, was unveiled with a gasping whimper, not the roar that its promoters loudly touted…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…
“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,” Morka said.
Also, the presidency described the ADC as a hollow alliance of displaced politicians.
The special adviser to the president on media and public communications, Sunday Dare, said the coalition promoters are political “desperados” driven not by ideology or national interest but by personal ambition and bitterness towards President Tinubu.
Similarly, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, tagged the coalition’s eggheads a gang of failed and expired politicians who have nothing to offer Nigerians.
He said: “I heard David Mark say they want to rescue Nigeria, that Nigerians are not happy, but the man was senate president for eight years and Nigerians were happy?
“There was no single project in Otukpo. Not one. He was flying with a helicopter to Otukpo. Nigerians were not angry then but they are angry now. Rotimi Amaechi was a minister. He took Chinese loans and made Nigeria to be so much indebted to China…”
However, political observers are of the view that the reaction of the APC was but a display of how rattled it is about the development as it is similar to what happened in the build up to the 2015 general elections.
The advocacy officer, West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS Network), Austin Aigbe, argued that the coalition is similar to the merger of other political parties which formed the APC and wrestled power from the PDP-led government of former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
“This time in the Nigerian political system is just like we were back to the 2015 presidential election that led to the first ever defeat of an incumbent government in Nigeria’s history based on opposition coalition.
“You will recall that only through that process was the opposition coalition of the 2014 able to wrestle power in 2015. The whole idea is that based on the fragmentations of these opposition parties they are not able to withstand a major political party as of this time the APC. The APC is at the threshold just like the PDP in 2014,” he submitted.
Though several APC leaders had declared that 2027 was settled with the high profile defections, including that of governors of opposition party into its fold, the post events of the coalition’s adoption of the ADC may be presenting fresh hurdles to the ruling party.
For instance, there are serious negotiations in the coalition to provide a united front with the former presidential candidates of the PDP, Atiku and the LP, Peter Obi who came second to and third to Tinubu in the 2023 polls to work together.
The argument is that if Atiku and Obi work together, considering the votes they polled individually combined, the APC and Tinubu would be given a bloody nose in forthcoming general elections.
Insiders opined that if Atiku and Obi had worked together in 2023, their 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 individual votes combined would have trounced Tinubu’s 8,794,726 votes.
There are also indications that the coalition is in talks with some opposition and APC governors, lawmakers and even appointees of the present administration who would join the ADC in the coming months to further strengthen the platform ahead of 2027.
Some leaders of the coalition reportedly hinted that five PDP governors and even some in the APC have given their commitment to join ADC along with their supporters including federal and state lawmakers.
Since the official adoption, some groups across the country have indicated their intention to collapse their structures into the new body to wrestle power from the APC in 2027.
In Rivers, a political pressure group under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Rivers Liberation Movement (RLM), has collapsed its structure into the coalition.
The ADC in Adamawa State has also welcomed new members from the Nigeria National Opposition Coalition and reaffirmed its legitimacy and unity of its current leadership structure.
Majority of members of the major opposition parties in Borno State, the PDP and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are reportedly resigning to join the the ADC.
The ADC’s website crashed three times within a span of 48 hours sequel to an unprecedented surge in traffic from Nigerians seeking membership and information about the party.
Demola Olarewaju, a special assistant on digital media and strategy to Atiku Abubakar, revealed the pressure on the ADC’s digital infrastructure on social media.
“ADC website has crashed three times since the coalition was announced,” Olarewaju posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Nigerians have been waiting for an alternative to APC, and it is advertising itself already.”
A political analyst, Sani Kabo, described the website’s traffic as “a reflection of the growing appetite for real political realignment,” comparing the moment to the historic 2013 merger that birthed the APC and ended the People’s Democratic Party’s 16-year reign.
We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →
Join Our WhatsApp Channel
