Bolaji Abdullahi: Governors afraid to join ADC over fear of intimidation

Bolaji Abdullahi, interim national publicity secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says serving governors are reluctant to join the party due to fear of intimidation.

Abdullahi made the comment on Saturday during the third expanded meeting of the national political consultative group (north) in Abuja.

He said the “fear” among governors was part of a wider “conspiracy against the Nigerian people”.

On July 1, opposition leaders, including Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president; Peter Obi, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate; Rotimi Amaechi, a former minister of transportation; and Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, unveiled the ADC as a new coalition platform to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

David Mark, former senate president, and Rauf Aregbesola, former Osun governor, were announced as interim national chairman and secretary of the party respectively.

Despite the line-up of political heavyweights, no sitting governor has joined the coalition since its launch.

Abdullahi attributed the hesitation to “fear of reprisal”.

“We don’t need to particularly target any serving governor,” he said.

“We know that no serving governor will want to come to us now because of the kind of intimidation that they are facing.

“We know what they are doing to them. Some of them who cannot jump to their party (APC) are saying we are endorsing their presidential candidate (Tinubu). No problem.

“But what you are seeing is a conspiracy against the Nigerian people. The ADC welcomes everybody, but we are convinced that we are a movement that has the backing of the majority of Nigerians who are not happy with the direction this country is going.”

He insisted that the ADC was not built around any individual’s ambition.

“ADC is not going to be hijacked. You see, the process for the building of the party ensures that the party does not coalesce around any individual,” he said.

“Like I repeatedly emphasised, the ADC is not built for anybody’s ambition. ADC is a party that is determined to give a different trajectory to Nigerian politics.

“We don’t have any predetermined agenda. We don’t have any favourite aspirant or candidate.

“We are not having any conversation at the moment. Nobody has ever had any conversation about who will be the party’s flag bearer.

“We believe that it is too early in the day. Our focus now is to build a political party that is strong enough to deliver on the mission that we have set for ourselves.”

Abdullahi said the meeting was convened to tackle challenges affecting the northern region.

He added that a similar gathering will be held for the southern region.