Spokesman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the political party adopted by the coalition of opposition political groups to pursue the 2027 general election, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, speaks with Deputy Editor, Sam Nwaoko, on the direction of the movement, its vision, and its chances of unseating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

How does it feel to be in a new house? You have found yourself in a new party, as it were, and not many people expected what happened?

It does feel good, to be honest. It does feel like some sort of victory, no matter how modest that victory is. It has been in the pipeline for quite a while, but I joined only recently. I was convinced about the birth of the vision of the initiators of the process. So I was very happy to join them, and like you rightly noted, we did not expect that it would get to this level, given what we know the current administration is capable of, in terms of their capacity to destabilise any form of opposition.

So we knew what we were up against and prepared for it. That’s why, when they were saying that the coalition was dead on arrival, we were just laughing at them because we knew what we were doing. We are glad that we arrived at where we arrived a few days ago. You can see Nigerians now feel differently. Nigerians now feel that they have options, which is the most important thing that inspired what we wanted to achieve.

Some commentators are of the opinion that going to the ADC was a hostile takeover of the house from the owners. How do you react to this?

Well, what kind of hostility would that be? How will you take over a house from an owner in a hostile manner, then the owner will sit down and be having drinks with you? The chairman of the ADC himself was there to hand over. He handed over directly to the interim chairman. So what kind of hostility is that?

The national secretary did the opening prayer at the beginning, what kind of hostility is that? The chairman of the Board of Trustees was there; all members of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) were there. So we are confident that what we have done has been done within the ambit of the law. We have crossed all the Ts and dotted all the Is because we know what we are up against. We know the mischief that this administration is capable of doing, and we have seen it as evidenced in other political parties that have presented some kind of opposition.

So the wholesale definition of the opposition platform actually is what has necessitated, among other things, this coalition. That’s why you could see that it’s not just a coalition of people from different political parties that have been destroyed — PDP, Labour Party, APC, SDP, and other parties — it has now turned out to be a coalition of all Nigerians. If you believe that this administration has failed to deliver on its promise and is actually taking Nigeria to the brink of destruction, this coalition is for you.

The smoothness of the takeover, according to some commentators, has prompted people to ask how much you paid or what you did as compensation to the former executive of the ADC. What did you give them that made them move so smoothly with you?

Well, let me say with due respect that we will be insulting those gentlemen to even begin to have this conversation about how much we paid them. This is because everyone knows how long they have run their party, ADC, and how they have managed to keep it alive for all the time that they did.

And there was something about the party that appealed to us: the scale of their ambition. When we met, they were talking about themselves as a continental political party; a party with a continental outlook. And that struck a chord. Can we use this party to lay a foundation for a party in the nature of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa — a party that is over 150 years old? That is part of the appeal. And so we liked that they shared our vision.

They believe that if the ambition is to avoid the catastrophe of Nigeria becoming a one-party state, given the destruction of the existing political parties, then they are willing to be part of history. And if the mission is to rescue Nigerians from the current poverty that the majority of Nigerians have been thrown into, then they are willing to be part of it. And like the (former) Chairman of ADC said, “I would rather be a member of the party that is capable of making history than to be the chairman of a party that will just be listed on the INEC register.” That’s what he said.

So when people begin to make insinuations that they’ve been bought or paid off, I think it is not fair. It is not all Nigerians that are sold to that kind of life.

So, we take it that being part of history is enough compensation for them… Since 2027 general election is the goal but you have no governor, no senator, no House of Representatives member and so on, where might the hope of defeating Tinubu and his team be coming from?

I have repeatedly emphasised that this coalition goes beyond just President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It goes beyond that. It’s about the country, about Nigeria, and that is why it’s not about how many governors you have. It’s not just about the presidency. Of course, we have so many senators in our ranks, and I’m sure Nigerians can see them, and we have so many House of Representatives members. But it goes beyond all these.

I can tell you that so many governors are also part of this, but they won’t come out now for strategic reasons. But beyond all that, this is a coalition of Nigerian people against this ruling party — a ruling party that has brought Nigeria to a level we have never seen before, in terms of insecurity, mass poverty, and all indices of human development.

So it’s a coalition of Nigerians. You can see it too. You can see the mood of the country in the last few days. People now feel that they have options. People now feel that there is an alternative. It is a mass movement. It goes beyond just a democratic party to win the 2027 election. It is a movement to rescue the very soul of our country.

So we are not worried about counting numbers and all that. How many governors did PDP have in 2015? What happened? Nigerians have repeatedly shown that no single man can win a battle against his own people, and that’s where we draw our strength from.

Okay, so in a way, are you saying that this coalition might not be capable of defeating Tinubu in 2027 or you feel it is not your utmost priority at the moment?

Of course, it is the utmost priority. How can you rescue Nigeria from President Tinubu without defeating him? You are asking me an obvious question. How can you say you want to rescue Nigeria from the current administration, and somehow say that you don’t want to win the election?

Okay, so how do you now intend to defeat him? I mean, what are your structures in the 774 local governments? Or, put differently, how do you think you are capable of defeating Tinubu?

I’m telling you that this is a coalition, and every single person you see in that place is a politician with immense followership who has contested elections before in one state or another, in one senatorial district or another, in one federal constituency or another, in one local government or another. Do you know what that means? It means that all these politicians have their structures in place, and all of them are now pouring into the African Democratic Congress.

Structure is not some kind of physical construction somewhere; it is the people you have on the ground in respective locations who are part of your political group or political movement. And there is no part of this country today that ADC — as you have it today as a coalition — does not have people. People are eager to know how they can join the ADC. This is a coalition of Nigerians, a movement whose time has come.

It goes without saying then that the financial capabilities are already available to be able to execute this project, because this is also an important factor.

Like I said, we are all politicians. We know what it takes to win elections. So I will not say more than that. That’s where I will stop on that.

Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the presidential spokesperson, described your coalition as a gathering of disgruntled and retired politicians. Mr. Festus Keyamo has said his, so also has Mr. Sunday Dare. How do you react to these men?

All these people are government people. What do you expect them to say? They all work for the government. That’s what they need to say, and I’m saying what I need to say, because I’m on the side of the Nigerian people. I’m not on the side of the government.

There are fears that individual political ambition might be the undoing of this coalition. Bayo Onanuga said as much, that very soon everything will unravel because of irreconcilable personal ambitions. How are you taking these things into consideration in your coalition?

Didn’t we hear this when APC started in 2014? Let them continue to delude themselves. Let them continue to wallow in that delusion. They said this coalition was dead on arrival. Did they even think we were going to get to where we are now? So that’s what they wish — they wish that something like that should happen. But I can tell you that at this moment, nobody in ADC is talking about presidential ambition yet. Everybody is talking about building a political party, because we know that what is at stake is bigger than any individual or individual ambition. It is about the people of Nigeria.

And I’m glad that Nigerians are seeing it; that now they can see a party that stands with them, that is able to give them refuge, that is able to rescue them from this abject poverty that they have been subjected to in the last few years.

So let the prophets of doom continue to prophesy their doom, but we are very clear about what we want to do. We are very clear about the direction we want to take our political party in Nigeria to, and the direction we want to take our politics and the country itself to.

So, our commitment is to the Nigerian people. And we understand what that means to the people in power because they know we want to take them off there. But for us, what matters is that we see our brothers being raped, being killed in this country, and government appears incapable of doing something about it. That is our preoccupation.

If that is the reason we are disgruntled, we are disgruntled. Yes, we are disgruntled. We see people who are reduced to begging because they could not afford to buy petrol. If you say we are disgruntled, yes — that’s why we are disgruntled — because we know that in any country where the majority wallows in abject poverty and only a few people are able to eat, such a society can never survive.

That is the commitment that we are having as the African Democratic Congress — to give Nigerians opportunity and to rescue this country.

Thank you very much. Let us also take that as an advice to Nigerians that hope is coming. Is that what you are telling them too?

I’m afraid to use the word hope, because we know what happened to it. Some time ago, we said “Hope ’93.” We know what became of it. Now, somebody came and said “renewed hope.” Look at what it has become.

So let’s just tell Nigerians that this is their movement. This is their coalition. If you believe that your life can be better than what you are going through now, this is your coalition. This is about you. (Saturday Tribune, excluding headline)