ADC Alleges Plot To Make Tinubu Sole 2027 Presidential Candidate

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged plot by the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerges unopposed as the only serious contender on the ballot in 2027.

The opposition party said the plot follows a move by powerful figures within the ruling APC to pressure the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe, as ADC National Chairman.

The ADC said Gombe had been expelled as a member of the party.

The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement, said elements within the ruling establishment want to manufacture confusion within the ADC and weaken the only viable opposition platform left in the country.

The party’s spokesman said that there is no legal basis for confusion as its leadership remains under Senator David Mark, following a combined meeting of the National Working Committee and National Executive Committee witnessed by INEC officials in July 2025.

He also recalled that on March 6 this year, a Federal High Court dismissed a case challenging Mark’s leadership of the party, affirming a well- grounded Supreme Court judgement that matters of leadership is wholly an internal affair of political parties.

Abdullahi said the party will employ every legitimate means to resist plots by anti-democratic forces within the ruling party to end competitive democracy in Nigeria.

He said the brazen attempt at undermining and destabilising the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections is being “driven by an APC governor in collaboration with a senior security official based in Abuja as part of the plot to impose President Tinubu on Nigerians as the sole presidential contender in 2027.”

He added, “At the centre of this scheme is Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe, an expelled member of the ADC who has recently been parading himself as a leader of the party while collaborating with external political interests.

“Mr. Gombe, who once claimed to be Deputy National Chairman under the former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, was duly expelled from the ADC after engaging in actions that were inconsistent with the party’s constitution, its principles, and the collective decisions of its leadership.”

ADC spokesman said it is shocking, though not surprising, that elements within the ruling establishment are now attempting to use him as a willing instrument of destabilisation and plot to forcefully take over the leadership of the ADC.

“The objective is clear: to manufacture confusion within the ADC, sponsor illegitimate leadership claims, and ultimately cripple the only credible opposition platform that Nigerians are increasingly looking to as a genuine alternative, thereby leaving Nigerians no choice in the next general election, despite widespread suffering that the ruling party has brought on the people,” Abdullahi said.

He recalled that INEC witnessed and acknowledged the formal recognition of the David Mark leadership in September 2025.

He said INEC’s formal recognition of the Mark-led ADC was preceded by a transfer of leadership to the coalition led by Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola in July 2025 by a combined meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC), which was also witnessed by officials of INEC.

“We therefore wonder at the level of desperation that is driving these anti-democratic forces to continue in their sinister efforts to impose expelled individuals on the party or manipulate its internal structures through external political pressure on judges and electoral officials.

“Nigeria’s democracy cannot thrive where the ruling party seeks to capture, infiltrate, or manufacture opposition parties for its own political convenience and survival.

“Such actions represent a dangerous assault on democratic pluralism and the constitutional right of Nigerians to freely organise and support credible political alternatives.

“We therefore call on the general public, party members, and democratic institutions to disregard the activities and claims of Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe and those backing his illegitimate adventure. We know them and their game plans and we will resist them by all means necessary. We will defend our democracy.

“The ADC remains united, focused, and committed to building a strong democratic alternative for Nigerians. No amount of intimidation, infiltration, or political engineering will derail this mission,” Abdullahi added.

End.