Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi is the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview by Muideen Olaniyi, he speaks on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the judicial challenge facing the ADC leadership. Excerpts:

Your recent statement says APC’s 2027 manifesto is a repackaging of 2023 promises. Which specific promises are you referring to and what is your evidence that they failed?

I mean, it’s obvious if you read it. We’ve read the manifesto of the ruling party. And what you will expect to see in the manifesto of a ruling party is evidence of what they had done with the previous opportunities that they have had.

But the manifesto that they presented two days ago read exactly like the manifesto of a party that is coming to power for the first time. And don’t forget, APC has been in government in the last 12 years or so. So, what happened? What did they do with the last 12 years? In 2023, they promised universal health coverage. They promised so many infrastructures. They promised more stable electricity. President Bola Tinubu specifically promised that if he did not give 24/7 electricity, Nigerians should not vote for him. They promised 25 million jobs on ICT. By their own account, they were able to deliver maybe less than 10 million jobs, which in any case is just made up of training that they give to people, not any jobs in the real sense. So, if you look at all this, you just see that it was the same 2023 manifesto that they just simply repackaged and began to present it as another basis that Nigerians should use to vote for them.

And if you look at some of the items they said they were going to do, it’s particularly ridiculous because if you look at some of the items they listed that they would do within 100 days, they are things that the president waking up today can just do, because they all have to do mostly with executive actions that the president could simply take by just pronouncements or directing people to do things. But all of this is a part of what they have listed to do in 100 days. So, the most significant point is that the ruling APC failed to understand that the 2027 election is going to be a referendum of what they did with the opportunity they have been given. So, it’s not going to be an opportunity for them to make fresh promises. It’s going to be an opportunity for Nigerians to evaluate their performance and mark their score, their answer sheets, and they don’t get to mark it themselves. Nigerians will mark it and do them the right thing by votes.

Has the ADC done an independent assessment of Tinubu’s 2023 promises versus delivery?

Absolutely. I mean, that’s why we are able to say the kind of things we are saying. Because we are familiar with their 2023 promises, and that’s why we’ve asked them to tell us which of those promises they have fulfilled, and they’ve not been able to mention even one. In any case, don’t forget, this is the only government that is running three budgets simultaneously and has implemented none. Only today (Thursday) I was hearing this morning that President Bola Tinubu has gone back to the National Assembly to ask for a loan of 10.8 trillion naira. And for what purpose? To implement the capital projects of the 2026 budget in November, when they should already be talking about the 2027 budget. So, this administration of Bola Tinubu will go down in history as a government that for three years has consistently violated the Appropriation Act. Don’t forget that the budget is an Appropriation Act. It’s a law. So, a failure to implement it is a violation of a law that is duly passed and signed by the National Assembly and signed by him. So, the APC and President Bola Tinubu have consistently violated the law and this will be a new record in Nigerian history.

APC says average power generation has improved and reforms are beginning to yield results. Why does ADC insist the situation has worsened?

Now let me ask you, in what way has this reform affected your own life? You see, only they can see the outcome of what they have done. Only they can see the results of what they have done. If you ask them what they have done, they will tell you the macroeconomy is working, foreign reserve has accumulated, the economy is now stable and the economy is improving. But at the same time they say the economy is improving.

Under President Bola Tinubu, 63% of Nigerians, by World Bank accounts, 63% of Nigerians have gone into multidimensional poverty. And that’s why, you see, what you are seeing in the North, what we call the Orange Revolution, what you are seeing in the North of Nigeria today is a reflection of the endemic poverty that has established itself in Northern Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu took over. Look at the average, go and do the research yourself. By the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics account, the last national multidimensional poverty index released in November 2025, which is the last one they have done, if you look at it, the average poverty rate in any state in Northern Nigeria is about 55%. Sokoto going to about 95%, and Yobe about 87%. So, it’s no surprise that the North of Nigeria today has rejected President Bola Tinubu completely. Because in no part of Nigeria have they borne the brunt of his maladministration like that’s happened in Northern Nigeria. So, when they continue to say, oh, the economy is improving, the people are asking how? Because even the minimum wage of 70,000 naira cannot even buy food. So, if you buy fuel at 1,550 naira, how many litres will 70,000 naira give you? You don’t have a big bag, it can hardly give you 50 litres. And you have a whole month to commute from home to work and work back to back home and feed your family and pay medical bills and pay school fees within that 70,000 naira minimum wage. So, if they have made life impossible for Nigerians and all they do is to continue to clap for themselves that the economy is improving, then Nigerians would be the judge of whether they can feed the economy on their lunch table. Now, I’m talking about lunch table. Didn’t you hear the Director-General of Tinubu Campaign, Abdulaziz Yari, say in Akwa Ibom that it’s only that Nigerians are hungry because they are lazy? That it’s only lazy people that will claim that they are hungry. That if you are not lazy, you will have food on your table. He’s not talking about what the government has done or what the government is doing?

You just quoted 63% poverty rate and erosion of the ?70,000 minimum wage. What is ADC’s alternative economic plan to restore purchasing power?

It is very clear. All this is a snowball effect of the same bad policies. The African Democratic Congress has made affordability the central focus of our campaign in 2027. How do we make life more affordable for Nigerians? How do we reduce the cost of living for Nigerians? And that starts with reducing the cost of fuel. Because if you reduce the cost of fuel, it will have a knock-on effect on other things. And that’s why we are proposing what we call production subsidy, which is different from the old subsidy regime that they have continued to discredit. But we are not proposing a return to the old consumption subsidy. We are talking of subsidy for the production of petrol in Nigeria that will be cheaper and more affordable for Nigerians. So, the critical strategy of the African Democratic Congress and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is affordability. How do we make life more affordable for Nigerians? How do we reduce the cost of living? And we say that will be done by all means necessary.

If APC’s manifesto is empty, what does ADC offer that is fundamentally different? When will Nigerians see your own detailed manifesto?

Our manifesto is ready and we are going to do a public presentation. We will announce it as soon as we get a date. It’s been ready since July. Our manifesto has been ready since July. So, what we are waiting for is a date for a public presentation. And like I told you, one of the most important things that ADC is offering that is different is that we are putting the people at the centre of governance. I’m saying that the key thing that ADC is offering that is different is that we are making the people the centre of governance. Everything that our government will do will be about the people. We are not going to be celebrating some market performance or some macroeconomic achievement when the people will continue to suffer. And that is why at the centre of our manifesto is affordability and cost of living and human development. So, ADC is saying that the fundamental policy principle of the African Democratic Congress is that the government has to be about the people more than anything else. So, the details, when we release the manifesto, you will see the details.

ADC has alleged compromise of the electoral environment. Do you have evidence INEC is working for APC?

No, no, no. We cannot say. I mean, we will not come and tell you. We cannot tell you that INEC is working for APC. We say that INEC is conducting itself in a way that does not give confidence to all political parties. I mean, that’s not saying that they are working with the APC. We are saying that there are things they are doing. For example, up till now, we don’t know who is printing the ballot papers. We don’t know the company that is printing the ballot papers. We don’t know where they are printing the ballot papers.

And this is information that should be generally known to political parties so that we can have confidence. How many BVAS are they deploying? What are the identification numbers of these BVAS machines? So, we need to know. This is information that we need to know.

We heard that INEC has created 556 new polling units. Where are these polling units? What are their numbers and identification? We need to know that. We don’t know that. So, INEC is hiding a lot. INEC is not being transparent enough. INEC is not carrying the political parties along. INEC needs to understand that their primary role, their primary responsibility is to give confidence to all political parties to be able to say, we trust INEC, we believe in what INEC is doing. Because that is the only pathway for the credibility of the election in 2027.

So, INEC should be sitting down with the political parties and sharing information with them so that all of us will be on the same page. But they are not doing that.

How come it is only the ruling party that is not complaining about the voters register? How come it is only the ruling party that is not complaining about the new polling units that is not universally known to everyone? How come it is the ruling party that is not complaining about which company is printing the ballot paper? So, these are the issues. So, if they conduct themselves in a way that does not give confidence to the opposition, then it would be justified if we begin to suspect some kind of collusion on the side of INEC.

On court judgment FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, your candidates’ forum petitioned the Chief Judge over Justice Lifu’s judgment voiding Sen. David Mark’s leadership and all ADC nominations. What is the status of your appeal?

I mean, we filed our appeal. We filed a stay of execution. And we are confident that the appeal court will overturn the judgments given by Justice Peter Lifu. And you see, when we talk about, when we say this, we are also saying that the appeal process exists so that if you are not satisfied with the ruling of the lower court, you can appeal to the higher court or to the Supreme Court, which means that judges are also fallible, right? But we should not find ourselves, as a country, where the fallibility of a justice is anchored on the lack of, on the suspicion of lack of credibility or on the suspicion of collusion with the ruling party, which is exactly where Justice Lifu has put the Nigerian judiciary today. The opposition, the African Democratic Congress, is not confident that the judgment given by Justice Lifu is based on the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is based on the letters and spirit of the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, or is based on the evidence provided or made available in front of it. We believe there are extraneous factors that determine that judgment. We believe there are political decisions that inform that judgment. And that is why we are not accepting it. And that’s why we say the trial that you see is not a trial for the African Democratic Congress alone. It’s a trial for the Nigerian judiciary and it’s a trial for the democracy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

You accused INEC of facing pressure to implement the judgment immediately. Who is pressuring INEC and do you have proof?

Of course, I mean, they are not hiding it. Apart from Nafiu Bala and his cohort asking for the immediate implementation, enforcement. I mean, we know who is sponsoring them. You see, you don’t need any further evidence of that than the very lifestyle that Nafiu Bala is living. This is a guy, if you listen to Chief Ralph Nwosu, he said for him to even come for a meeting in Abuja, up till July last year, before the coalition came, before he even came to a meeting in Abuja, they had to even send him money for public transport. Now, the same guy is walking around in a convoy of bulletproof SUVs and with security. Who is funding that? Who is supporting, who is giving him security? And yet, we continue to ask opposition to provide evidence that the ruling party is sponsoring him. So, we can continue to pretend, but when this matter hits the ceiling, all of us will leave our pretences because we are all going to be collectively paying for the undermining of this democracy.

If the Court of Appeal does not grant a stay of execution before INEC’s deadline, what is ADC’s contingency plan for 2027?

That is if, we are not going to answer questions on if, because it’s hypothetical. There is no reason the Court of Appeal will not grant a stay of execution, because they must give us opportunity to listen to our appeal. That is a rule of law. If a judge gives judgment and we say we are not happy, the opportunity for appeal should be available to us. So, and if that appeal is not exhausted, you cannot go ahead and rule against us.

Justice Musa Liman held that ADC leadership handover was lawful, but Justice Lifu voided it. How do you reconcile these conflicting Federal High Court decisions?

It’s for the judiciary to reconcile. It’s for the judicial institution to reconcile. Because if you say, okay, we must obey what Justice Lifu said, so are you saying that we should disobey what Liman said? Because in obeying Justice Lifu, you are asking us to disobey Justice Liman. You know, so which of the two courts should we obey? Which of the two courts should INEC obey? And that is why we said this kind of thing shouldn’t happen. Courts of coordinate jurisdiction cannot be giving conflicting judgments. Some of us who were around during the June 12 know that this is the beginning of the same kind of situation that led to the beginning of the end of the Third Republic. And we are not going to allow it.

You said 2027 is a referendum on Tinubu’s record. But Atiku has contested since 1993. How does ADC respond to Nigerians asking for a fresh face?

But has Atiku run government before? We are talking of President Bola Tinubu defending his record in the last three years, and four years by the time we arrive at the election. Has Atiku run government before? Has Atiku been president of Nigeria before? So, what record are you asking him to defend? Merely being a candidate does not make you, give you the responsibility of government. You know, and talking about fresh face, fresh face for what? Fresh face to do what? Did any fresh face come out and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar told the fresh face not to contest election? Or the fact that he has contested election before, does it invalidate the fact that he has the right to contest election? So, you are drawing a false parallel when you say we said it’s a referendum on Tinubu… They are asking Tinubu to account for the last three years that he has mismanaged Nigeria. How does it relate to Atiku Abubakar contesting election? I think it’s a false equivalence. They are not the same.

Your campaign council has been very vocal against vote-buying and cash distribution at APC events. What mechanism is ADC putting in place to ensure its own campaign is not involved?

No, we are not going to do that. You see, we are the only party that has an articulated ethical principle. We presented it to you pressmen, the Orange Book. And if you go back to the Orange Book, you see that ADC has vowed not to get involved in any form of violence or any form of violation of the Electoral Act.

You heard Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, some days back, saying that he would give people 10 million naira if they vote for President Bola Tinubu. That is vote-buying. But it does appear that some people are above the law.

If any opposition political party were to be the one to say that, by now they will say, oh, they are violating the Electoral Act. You know, for us, we are not going to get involved in these things that we are continuing to condemn. And that’s why we say we are going to be different. We are bringing an ethical awareness and ethical perspective to Nigerian politics and democracy. Because at the end of the day, it’s about the survival of the democracy of Federal Republic of Nigeria. (Saturday Tribune)