Dumebi Kachikwu: Opposition coalition entered ADC through back door… they’ll shop for new party soon

Dumebi Kachikwu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 elections, says leaders of the opposition coalition “entered the party through the back door”.

In a statement issued on Wednesday shortly after the opposition coalition unveiled the ADC as the preferred platform to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027, Kachikwu said the politicians would soon be “shopping for a new party”.

The coalition met on Tuesday with some ADC leaders and appointed former Senate President David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, ex-governor of Osun, as interim national chairman and secretary, respectively.

Bolaji Abdullahi, a former minister of sports, was appointed as the coalition’s spokesperson.

The meeting was also attended by ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Sule Lamido, ex-governor of Jigawa; Uche Secondus, former PDP national chairman; Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger; Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi; Aminu Tambuwal, former governor of Sokoto; and Liyel Imoke, former governor of Cross River.

However, Kachikwu faulted the “takeover” of the party by the opposition coalition, noting that the group was in alliance with Ralph Nwosu, whose tenure as the party chairman expired in 2022.

He added that ADC’s “brand of opposition” contradicts the ideas that the opposition coalition is “conversant with”.

“From the foregoing, I want to then pose the following questions: Can you build something on nothing? Can you shave a man’s hair in his absence? Can you enter a man’s house through the back door and declare yourself the landlord? These yesterday’s men, who represent a bad chapter in Nigeria’s past, have bought a bad market from a man who represents a bad chapter in ADC’s past,” the statement reads.

“Nigerians have watched in amazement as this group of mostly geriatrics shopped around for a party to prosecute their ‘chopping must continue’ ambition.

“If you seek to be a part of the ADC, do the proper thing and come through the front door. We are a party of decent and well-behaved people. Our brand of opposition is one that not only opposes but proposes, something that your group is not conversant with.

“I strongly suspect that you will be shopping for another party very soon, and as you do that, we, the members of the African Democratic Congress, wish you bon voyage. Thank you, and God bless.”