The coalition-backed African Democratic Congress, ADC, yesterday, bickered with the All Progressives Congress, APC, over attacks on its leaders and description of the coalition as a clear and present danger to the country.

The APC referred to leaders of the ADC, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of Labour Party in 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi; former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai; and former Rivers State governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as Nigeria?s most confused, clueless, rudderless and pitiful gang of opposition elements.

It warned Nigerians to be wary of politicians who weaponise ethnicity and religion, seeking to upend the presidential rotational principle between the North and the South.

In a quick counter, the ADC said President Bola Tinubu?s economic reforms were heartless, while the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, said the APC?s attacks on Obi were diversionary.

El-Rufai?s political fall needs forensic analysis

The APC said El-Rufai?s infantile politics is the real threat to Nigeria?s progress, noting that his rapid fall from political grace to grass is deserving of forensic analysis.

The ruling party claimed that since his failed bid for a ministerial appointment, the former Kaduna State governor had gone into a political tailspin.

?His speedy fall from commanding heights to the political clown he has become needs forensic study,? said APC spokesman, Felix Morka.

The APC noted that El-Rufai?s attack on President Tinubu?s administration as incompetent, clannish and undeserving of a second term, at a meeting in Sokoto on Saturday, August 2, 2025, was yet another outburst of a waspish politician.

?It is now clear to all Nigerians that El-Rufai and his cohorts in ADC are on a mission to upend the presidential rotational principle designed to promote national unity and cohesion in the country through the imposition of Atiku as presidential candidate of ADC in the middle of a southern presidency rotation.

?It was Atiku?s selfish and obdurate refusal to respect the rotation principle during the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential primary election that directly resulted in PDP?s virtual cremation.

?El-Rufai and Atiku want to do to Nigeria what Atiku did to PDP. El-Rufai, and Atiku?s hijack of ADC constitutes a clear and present threat to the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria,? the party said.

According to APC, el-Rufai and his partners in ADC ?are the most confused, clueless, rudderless and pitiful opposition politicians our country has ever known.

?They bring nothing to the political table except their oversized ego, wild entitlement mentality, obscene desperation and predatory presidential ambitions.?

The ruling party said apart from ?baseless headline attacks against the present administration and the APC, el-Rufai and cohorts have not presented and cannot present policy prescriptions with potential for more effectiveness than those already being implemented by the Tinubu administration, with strong indicators of success.?

The party continued: ?All three major contestants in the 2023 presidential election campaigned to remove fuel subsidy and harmonise multiple foreign exchange regimes in recognition of the urgency and seriousness of the country?s economic challenges.

?Upon his election and inauguration, President Tinubu swiftly implemented policy reforms as he promised. After their crushing defeat at the polls, Atiku and Obi, seemingly, recanted their policy reform positions in order to justify sitting shamelessly at the table of hypocrisy and hurling invectives at President Tinubu and APC for implementing reform policies they also promised Nigerians.

?If El-Rufai and his cohorts detest the administration?s policy reforms as much as they claim, why have they not presented policy proposals to restore fuel subsidy as it was and return the country to the ruinous era of fixing naira?s value and operating multiple foreign exchange regimes that fed the greedy and insatiable appetite of the likes of El-Rufai, Atiku, Obi and Rotimi Amaechi for decades?

?The rejection of el-Rufai as a minister cannot justify his allegation of clannishness against the administration. A senseless claim like that can only come from someone who haughtily equates his selfish interest with the interest of an entire ethnic nationality.

?President Tinubu is easily one of the most detribalised and patriotic Nigerians alive. No tribe, ethnic or religious group has been sidelined as el-Rufai wants Nigerians to believe.

?For a former governor who left a sordid legacy of obnoxious marginalisation of ethnic and religious minorities in Southern Kaduna; who weaponised demolitions against innocent citizens; and hung a debt profile of N284 billion on tax payers, according to the Debt Management Office, DMO, el-Rufai is the poster child of bad governance and failed leadership.?

Pooh-poohing the ruling party, ADC described President Tinubu?s economic reforms as ?heartless,? accusing the APC of favouring international financial institutions at the expense of Nigerian citizens.

The remarks were made in response to the APC?s claim that the ADC lacks credible alternatives to the current economic direction.

Speaking exclusively to Vanguard in Abuja yesterday, Balarabe Rufai, National Youth Leader of ADC, dismissed the APC?s assertions, insisting that ADC?s economic vision prioritises the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.

Rufai stressed that the ADC will implement reforms that are ?organic? and ?original,? specifically tailored to meet the needs of the Nigerian people, rather than dictated by external financial bodies.

?The present administration?s reforms are heartless. They are just prescriptions from the Bretton Woods organizations that have no concern for Nigerian citizens,? Rufai said.

He explained that ADC?s reform strategy will rest on four pillars: consistency, ownership, purpose, and strategy.

Rufai also criticised the APC-led government for its aggressive tax drive, accusing it of ignoring the suffering of Nigerians living in multi-dimensional poverty.

?In a country where your statistical authority has publicly stated that 133 million people, almost 60 to 70 percent of the population, are in poverty, and you keep taxing that population, it means the government is heartless and insensitive to the needs of the people,? he said.

He went on to speak about the ADC?s growing influence, revealing that major political figures such as Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar are aligning with the party.

?Peter Obi is coming to the ADC. Atiku Abubakar is coming to the ADC, and they are going to work with the ADC. If they have other plans, they will have to leave their plans and go with the plans of the ADC,? he stated.

Addressing concerns that the ADC may be undermining the North-South rotation of the presidency, Rufai dismissed such claims as unfounded. He said the party?s main objective is to reform Nigeria?s democratic processes, particularly party primaries.

?In the ADC, most particularly in the youth wing, we will make sure that delegates have become valueless. Godfatherism also will not work in the ADC,? he asserted.

He reaffirmed that the party?s focus is on creating a supportive environment for any leader to succeed.

?We don?t really care who becomes the presidential flagbearer. What we care for is for anybody that emerges to have a smooth running, not burdened with needless loans or the need to settle delegates,? Rufai said.

APC?s attacks on Peter Obi are diversionary ? CUPP

Also speaking, the CUPP said the smear campaign targeting Peter Obi is part of a desperate attempt by the APC to divert attention from its gross incompetence in governance.

National Secretary of the CUPP, Chief Peter Ameh, said: ?The recent statement by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Mouka, alleging that Mr. Peter Obi has ?nothing to offer Nigeria? and accusing him of hypocrisy is a gross misrepresentation of facts and a desperate attempt to discredit a proven leader.

?Contrary to these unfounded claims, Peter Obi?s record as a public servant and his policy positions remain steadfast, clear, and focused on uplifting Nigerians from multidimensional poverty.

?Peter Obi has consistently advocated reducing government waste, enhancing transparency, and implementing reforms with safeguards to protect vulnerable citizens.

?His stance on fuel subsidy removal, for instance, has always emphasised the need for strategic measures to mitigate its impact on Nigerians, unlike the abrupt and poorly managed approach of the current administration, which has deepened poverty and hardship.

?It is disheartening that the APC, rather than addressing pressing challenges, chooses to expend energy on smear campaigns against opposition leaders.

?Nigerians are grappling with unprecedented economic difficulties, yet the ruling party has little to show for its two years in office.?? (Vanguard, but headline rejigged)

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