2027: Utomi backs ADC coalition to unseat Tinubu

Proponent of the shadow government, Professor Pat Utomi, has expressed support for the decision of some major political figures to form a coalition using the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 elections.

However, he warned the actors involved — including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi; former Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai; former Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; and former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun — not to see the effort as merely a quest for electoral victory.

“Our prayer is that they remember it should not just be about winning elections,” he said.

“They should work on how to govern, because that’s the major problem we have in Nigeria,” he told journalists in Abuja, as he listed the names of those expected to be part of the “big rent” — the cabinet of the shadow government.

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Utomi criticized the growing trend in Nigeria’s democracy, which he described as becoming more “theatre-like,” with core values increasingly eroded. He expressed hope that the coalition’s members would focus on restoring these values and pursuing quality leadership.

“Our democracy has suffered very, very badly,” he noted. “We have become part of the theatre, and we’re cheering while the country is dying.”

Utomi recalled how, in 2008, he proposed the idea of a shadow government to the late President Umar Yar’Adua, who, he said, responded positively.

“He didn’t find it alarming. He thought it was part of the evolution of democracy,” Utomi said.

He added, “The only problem was that he wanted me to join his cabinet — and I said, ‘I have just created another one.’”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE