Former Minister of Sports and Youth Development and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, is the incumbent National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview by TAIWO AMODU, he says his party is not bothered by the sudden romance between former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Mallam Abdullahi dismissed the allegation of marginalization levelled against the ADC National Working Committee (NWC) by certain loyalists of the former LP candidate. Excerpts:

There is this internal dissension, threatening the ADC since the Coalition joined it. Some states chairmen have said the Coalition members came to hijack the party. Dumebi Kachikwu, your former presidential candidate, has said the same thing. Why this crack?

I don’t know the states chairmen being talked about, I don’t know how many of them because we have 36 states. But let me first address the Kachikwu issue. People keep talking about him. Was he an official of the party? Was he national chairman of the party? He was just a presidential candidate of the party. So, how can a presidential candidate say he doesn’t know what conversations happened towards building a relationship with other political parties or other politicians? He was just a presidential candidate of the party, someone who used the platform of the party. Once the election which he participated was over, his contract of dealing with the party was over. If you want to run again, you need to recontest again otherwise you are just an ordinary member of the party — just like every other ordinary member of the party in Abia or in Ibadan. He doesn’t have an official role to play.

Number two. It is on record that Kachikwu has been expelled from the party since 2022. So, there is no basis for him to claim that he wasn’t part of the coalition. You can see that in recent times, you don’t hear from him anymore. He must have been appropriately advised and his expulsion from the party was even at the last NEC meeting in Abuja here. So, that’s that about that.

Now, coming to the states chairmen, one of the initial moves that the national chairman, David Mark did was to invite all the states chairmen to Abuja. All the 36 of them were invited, they all came and the chairman assured them that we weren’t coming to sweep them away, that all states chairmen will keep their positions until the next Congress of the party unless any chairman is willing to resign his position.

These people you call chairmen that are raising issues now, they didn’t raise any issue. They attended the meeting, they signed attendance, and they all said they were happy with the development. So at what point did they realize that the party has been hijacked from them?

You see, it is the same hands of destabilization, that have destroyed other opposition parties that is at work but they aren’t going to succeed with ADC, because the people that formed ADC were victims of the same machinations that destroyed their original political parties; that’s what drove them into this coalition. We took all time, we took all efforts, to ensure that all legal requirements were met; everything that needed to be done was done. So, we weren’t worried. After the two chairmen that you referred to, you see people coming and they will keep coming because it is a lucrative enterprise now to say you can destabilize the coalition.

Can you speak in specific terms, these forces? PDP, SDP are all facing leadership crises. Does the Presidency have a hand in all these?

Yes, it is the Presidency, the ruling government! You see, what they wanted and I have always maintained, is to create chaos. They know that on their records of performance alone, Nigerians won’t vote for them. They have brought Nigerians to their knees; the rate of sufferings in this country today is almost unprecedented. So they knew what they have done and they know that based on their scorecard alone, Nigerians won’t vote for them. So, what they wanted to do was to foist on us a fait accompli so that by the time we arrive at 2027, no political party will be in a position to present a candidate or be in a position to challenge it for power. That’s what they are trying to do. I am not holding them entirely responsible for what has happened in the political parties, whether in PDP or SDP, or any of the political parties but there is no doubt of its involvement.

The President himself said it at the national assembly. He said, I can’t help you to fix your parties, but I am enjoying what is happening to you.

Don’t you think, he probably meant the problem is self-inflicted?

Yes, but if I were the President, I wouldn’t say that. If I were advising the President, you know what I will advise him to say: I would tell him that’s not what he should have said. Even if he wasn’t aware, if he had no hand in what is happening. A presidential of a country has a responsibility to protect democratic institutions. The President of Nigeria should have said, we note with concern, what is happening in other political parties and I will encourage them to put their acts in order as quickly as possible because our democracy is better when there are alternatives. I won’t help you to fix your problems because it isn’t in my interest to do so but I will encourage you to put your acts together because our democracy is stronger when there is competition. If the President has said that, his political ratings will go up, people will say, this is a democrat. But to say, I can’t help you to fix your problems, but I am in fact enjoying what is happening to you! So, it is clear where all these are coming from and what the agenda is.

With General David Mark as Interim chairman, some discerning Nigerians have formed the impression that the class of retired Generals have a hand in this coalition. To what extent does the ADC enjoy the blessings of General Obasanjo, Aliyu Gusau and Ibrahim Babangida?

The coalition has received tremendous supports, from every citizen who believes that Nigeria as a country is heading towards a disastrous plain. The coalition has been encouraged at every point in time. But I am not going to say more than that.

That means the class of retired Generals is giving their support?

I just said everything Nigerian, including the people you have mentioned have supported the Coalition from the start, encouraged the Coalition, advised it from the start to ensure that Nigeria doesn’t end up as one party democracy; that it doesn’t end up as a one party state; that Nigeria is rescued from the hands of these people who appear set to bring the country down. So, we have been encouraged at one time or the other by every citizen of goodwill that believes that Nigeria needs to be saved from the APC disaster. I am not going to say more than that.

What will you be telling Nigerians who are cynical about the capacity of gladiators in ADC to bring the desired change? They look at chieftains of the PDP that governed for 16 years and the APC that has ruled for 10 years as drivers of the ADC. How do you intend to convince them?

The likes of the former ex-SGF who was accused of a financial scandal?

Has he been convicted? Look, anybody can allege anything. He is one of the most respected Nigerians today. I have worked very closely with him and I know him to be one of the best human beings I have met in my life. So people can sit in one corner and pass judgment on people. So, have you asked them questions? The very first day I met him, I asked him and I understood exactly what happened because it could have been easy for anybody to fall into that error. So he has my respect any day.

You see, they started by saying the coalition was dead on arrival. That it won’t succeed. Then we unveiled. Then the argument moved to look at the caliber of people there. But like I have repeatedly maintained, when APC came on board in 2014, was it not the same caliber of people? Was there an angel that came from heaven to lead the APC at the time? Was it not the same people? Nasir El-Rufai that they love to demonize today? Was he not the one leading the campaign for the APC? Baba Oyegun was the national chairman of APC now in the coalition? Is he one of the people being referred to? This same Babachir Lawal, was he not a leading member of the APC at the time?

So, you see, this kind of conversation seems to suggest that it is either people are hypocritical. People saying that are hypocritical or trying to distract our attention from the issues.

This idea of attacking the person rather than focusing on the issues is a stratagem that won’t work. 2027 is going to be a referendum on the performance of the APC government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It isn’t going to be about profiling individuals. It is going to be about whether you have put food on the tables or make the lives of Nigerians better than it was before you took over power. It is going to be about you promising 24 hours electricity and swearing that we shouldn’t vote for you again if you weren’t able to deliver. It is going to be about whether Nigerians are safer today than they were before you came on board. As I speak to you today, every single day till the first quarter of 2025, 30 Nigerians are killed every single day by bandits and criminals – in one quarter alone, 3,500 Nigerians have been killed. The reports are there. Those are the questions. The people can no longer sleep in their homes in Zamfara. These are issues that will determine whether Nigerians will vote for them or not.

Now, be that as it may, what is ADC going to offer? We are offering alternatives. If Nigerians arrive at 2027, and they look at APC and they say, “Oh this government has failed us,” they should have alternatives. It is dangerous when people don’t have options. When you leave people with no options, you leave them with no choice. People can say, I am happy with the performance of APC government and I want to vote for them again. Good. But when they say we aren’t happy, they should find alternatives and that credible alternative is what ADC represents. In the coming weeks, we are going to roll out our plans for governance, our own agenda for governance. We are going to roll it out to Nigerians and let them make their choice.

Where will the ADC be picking its presidential candidate in 2027?

I have told you earlier, ADC isn’t having that conversation now. The party is focused on issues that matter to Nigerians. It is the elite that are having conversation about where the President will come from. The man from Kano doesn’t buy fuel from a fuelling station different from the man from Umuahia; it is the same poverty that afflicts the man from Ilorin that afflicts the man from Damaturu. So, Nigerians want people who can solve their problems. ADC is committed. You see, this issue of where the President will come from is a recent development in Nigeria. We are old enough to know that even as recent as 1999, at the turn of this republic were there conversation about where the President will come from? Nobody cares. The weaponization of regions, of religion, of ethnicity, is a recent affliction of Nigerian politics that this APC government has taken to a new level. I listened to one of them few days ago, describing Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as an 80 year old Muslim Northerner! And they aren’t ashamed to say that. In a civilized society, that person will be arrested, will be sanctioned for profiling an individual. You see, the APC, their rhetoric is an affliction on Nigeria, they no longer have boundaries. They say anything!

In the second republic, who cared for the candidate of the UPN? You knew if you voted UPN, you will get free education; it was only the party people who cared who the candidate will be. The issue of the candidate of the party is the internal decision of the political party. After Biden had that disastrous debate with Trump, the Democratic Party elite said now, we can’t contest with this man and they brought Kamala Harris. So, it is an internal arrangement of a party. If you field the wrong candidate, the people will punish you. If you want to win elections, you field the right candidate. So, when does the issue of where a party zones its presidential candidate become an issue of national referendum? If you aren’t a member of our party what is your business with where we pick our candidate? That’s a reflection of where Nigerian politics is today and how far it has degenerated. The APC people are doing everything to turn this election of 2027 into issues of regionalism, about ethnicity, about what religion you speak.

Let me ask you this hypocritical question: what if a northerner emerges as your presidential candidate and the average southerner says the ADC is about to shortchange us?

It is our problem! Don’t you get?!! It is our problem to fix!!! You said it is hypothetical, right? It is our problem; it is our problem to now convince Nigerians, why they should vote for us, in spite of that choice that we have made. Don’t you see? Why are they taking panadol over another person’s headache?

There was a report recently that the Labour Party former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, dropped a hint last week that the PDP has opened discussions with him. Do you really think he is sincere about joining the ADC?

On a personal note, I like to take people for their words. If you tell me anything, it is what you tell me I will hold on to. Just like I will want you to hold on to whatever I say.

Peter Obi hasn’t told us anything other than what he told us the last meeting he attended. That he is part of the Coalition, and that the leadership should give him time to go and fight his election in Anambra. That once it is done, he is back. That was why at the unveiling you saw him sitting at the high table with other leaders.

I believe that if his position has changed, he will come back and tell us his position has changed. As I speak to you, he hasn’t come back. So, we aren’t disturbed in any way. We believe Peter Obi is a man of honour and that if he is going to do anything other than what he has told us he will do, he will have the courage to come back and tell us. Any other thing, we aren’t going to pay attention to it.

You mean the party isn’t taken aback by the report that he has opened discussions with PDP?

Has he told us? What I am saying is that anybody can talk to anybody. But if he comes back to us as party leaders to say see oh, what I told you the last time, my position has changed. Has he told us that? The answer is no. So, we will wait for Peter Obi to come and tell us that he is no longer part of the ADC. But he hasn’t done that and we are confident that he is solidly part of this Coalition; his nominees are in the hierarchy of this party, the leadership of the party. So, we aren’t bothered. You see, PDP is PDP. They are looking for a poster boy to repair their battered image. In the order of opposition ranking, I saw a poll, do you know that LP ranked higher than PDP? PDP is now number four in the order of ranking ahead of NNPP. So why should we be bothered? Peter Obi knows the virus that has afflicted PDP has no cure.

Could it be that he has weighed his chances in ADC? That he has no chance of picking your party ticket?

I don’t think there is anything in ADC that would put him in a position to be afraid because the national chairman has said we are committed to one thing: building a party that will promote internal democracy. We aren’t desperate for power in 2027; our mission is to save this country from the trajectory it is heading. So we aren’t going to start undermining our own rules to force anybody and that’s why I said we aren’t having that conversation of presidential ticket now.

To those with perception that Atiku remains the candidate to beat in ADC, what are you doing to inspire confidence that there will be a level playing field at the presidential convention?

What do they mean by he is the candidate to beat? Does it mean that he is the candidate designate? Yes, I have hears that before. How did they arrive at that conclusion? You know that the National Organizing Secretary conducts internal elections in the party. Do you know who nominated the National Organizing Secretary of the ADC? It is Peter Obi. Is that the move of a party that is predetermined or prejudiced against someone? So why will you give the most important influence or consequence for conducting party primaries in the hands of someone that you have decided wouldn’t be your candidate? So, all this is just talk.

It was a merger, orchestrated by the North that coalesced to form APC to dislodge Jonathan and the PDP. Ten years after, the region is at it again, against another sitting president from the South. To those with the refrain that Tinubu isn’t Jonathan, how formidable is the ADC?

What you saw in 2015 is different from what is happening today. In 2015, when the APC merger was formed, did anybody care who the presidential candidate was? Was there conversation that it must be a Northerner? APC didn’t come talking about; our candidate must be a Northerner.

They did their internal calculation and convinced themselves that it was President Buhari that was best suited to contest that election and what happened? Because Nigerians were unified behind the message of change, the mood in the country at that time was that Jonathan must go—–whether it is in Calabar or in Anambra or in Oyo, in Kano, the mood was the same. Nigerians felt they have seen the worst. That Jonathan was bad. That was what they thought. Now, they know better.

They promised the country change and Nigerians believed in message of change and like you pointed out, ten years after, here we are.

Can anybody, those of us who were part of it then, looked back today and say when we were shouting change in 2014, this is what we had in mind? Was this what we had in mind?

The APC formation at that time was a political strategy to take power by a particular section of the political elite who felt that the best way they could come to power is to bring themselves together and formed a merger as opposition party.

By the way, people who say Tinubu isn’t Jonathan are telling us something. They are telling us that if Jonathan had been as vicious, and as committed to destroy the opposition as this ruling party of APC is now, APC wouldn’t have come to power in 2015. If Jonathan hadn’t provided the liberal political atmosphere for APC to do, whatever they wanted to do at that time, APC wouldn’t have come to power. But Jonathan being the kind of person he is, who believe in democracy, who wasn’t desperate to cling on to power, who put the interest of Nigerians first, allowed the opposition to thrive. He faced the challenge they brought. He lost. And what did he do? He left power to them. But it is quite a grand irony of history that the very beneficiary of the liberal political atmosphere that Jonathan provided are the ones emasculating opposition today, are the ones who don’t want any opposition party to survive.

To go back to our point, I said APC was a product of a political strategy. ADC is a product of a political necessity. What has brought ADC together was the very existential threat that opposition parties are facing in the hands of the ruling party. (Nigerian Tribune)