Dumebi Kachikwu: ADC coalition on a slippery slope — it will fail

Dumebi Kachikwu, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 election, says the opposition coalition is on a “slippery slope”.

Speaking during an interview on The Volume Pod, Kachikwu said the opposition coalition “will fail”.

Since opposition politicians formally adopted the ADC earlier this month, Kachikwu has consistently criticised the alliance.

Among the coalition leaders are former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, a former transportation minister; Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections; Nasir el-Rufai, former Kaduna governor; and John Oyegun, former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Others include Sule Lamido, ex-governor of Jigawa; Uche Secondus, former PDP national chairman; Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger state; Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi; Aminu Tambuwal, former governor of Sokoto; and Liyel Imoke, former governor of Cross River, among others.

Kachikwu challenged the coalition’s legitimacy, citing unresolved legal disputes in court over ADC leadership.

He said Ralph Nwosu’s term as ADC national chairman expired two years ago, and he lacked the authority to transfer leadership to select persons in a controversial coalition.

“They are walking down a very slippery slope that only ends in one place: failure. You cannot build something on nothing,” he said.

“Two courts in two different jurisdictions did not make a mistake when they ruled that this man’s [Nwosu] tenure had elapsed.

“So, there is nothing they [ADC] would do that would make sense. Nwosu’s tenure expired two years ago; there has been no national executive committee (NEC) or convention.

“They (ADC) have been trying to have a convention. In fact, they did two conventions, and INEC refused to recognise it.

“That is the problem of the party. We [ADC] are facing special circumstances that our constitution never envisaged would have a lacuna within the party.”

Kachikwu said only the court can decide the fate of the ADC.

He said some coalition members now regret forming an alliance using the ADC.

“All these men now realise that they made a mistake in entering this party without dealing with these issues because they are reaching out to me through several people,” Kachikwu said.

He claimed that the opposition leaders bribed state chairpersons of the ADC to endorse their adoption of the party as an alliance platform.

Kachikwu said that while the ADC coalition claims President Bola Tinubu’s administration has failed Nigerians, it has not listed what it intends to do to improve the situation if it takes over power.

“In any area you say this man [Tinubu] has failed, what do you intend to do?” he asked.