We’ll protect our votes in 2027 —ADC

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi is the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview with Muideen Olaniyi, he speaks on 2027 elections, party positioning, and other national issues. Excerpts:

Recently, you granted an interview where you actually said that the current administration did not intend to release a former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai from detention until after the 2027 election as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) believed the opposition would be stronger with the release of the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). What are you trying to say?

What we are saying is that the government has repeatedly arraigned him in court. And we have consistently demanded that the offences he was being charged with are bailable offences.

But what government has done is to set impossible bail conditions for him. When you set impossible bail conditions, it means that you can continue to hold him under the pretext that he has not met the bail conditions, knowing quite well that the bail conditions that you set were impossible for him to meet in the first place. So, that is why we in the African Democratic Congress believe that it is a deliberate strategy of this government, the APC government, to continue to hold Mallam Nasir El-Rufai as a political prisoner until after the election because they know that with a Mallam Nasir outside, the opposition party is stronger.

And they know why they were coming up with him. He knows the role he played in bringing them to power. So, they know the role he could play in getting them out of power.

The point we are making is that if they continue to keep Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in perpetuity, we will continue to remind the rest of the world that President Bola Tinubu is holding a political prisoner in Nigeria, and his name is Nasir El-Rufai. That is number one. Number two, we also have information from the family that he has health challenges. And the government is denying him medical attention because penalty week, he was supposed to be admitted at the National Hospital. But instead of allowing him to receive the required medical attention, they took him back to detention. So, that is why we say if anything happens to him, President Bola Tinubu will be held personally responsible.

It has become very clear that we will have Atiku-Amaechi, Tinubu-Shetima, and Obi-Kwankwaso on the ballot in 2027.

Yes.

What gives you that confidence that Atiku-Amaechi ticket is going to unseat Tinubu-Shetima in 2027?

It’s obvious. It’s the Nigerians that will remove him. Because it is Nigerians who have suffered from the bad policy of the APC government under President Bola Tinubu that will get him out of power in 2027. It is difficult to imagine Nigerians will vote for the same suffering that they have endured in the last three years and want it to continue for another four years. It is not possible. That is why we say it is only the African Democratic Congress today that represents a real alternative. So, that is why we are confident that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi ticket will beat President Bola Tinubu in 2027. We believe that what this government has done with the level of insecurity we have seen, with the widespread hunger in the country, the way people are suffering today, it is almost unprecedented in the history of the country. Last week or so, we read a report saying that 17 million Nigerians are at risk of starvation. It has never happened in this country before. 17 million is the population of many West African countries put together. But you have not heard a single statement from this government on how they are going to cushion the effect of this suffering on the Nigerian people. So, why would Nigerians vote for them again? We know they will do whatever it takes. They want to rig this election. But Nigerians will be ready for that.

IPAC under Dr. Yusuf Dantalle has been pushing for appointment reforms in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and for INEC to conduct Local Government (LG) elections. What is ADC’s position on these demands?

The ADC, as a member of IPAC, the ADC aligns with the IPAC president’s position. Because we believe that, like the doctrine says, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. As long as the president of Nigeria has the discretionary power to appoint who becomes the INEC chairman, the chances are there that he will also subject him to undue influence. We are not saying that this is always the case. But the chances or the possibilities remain. And in matters of election, it is not just about justice being done. It is about justice being seen to have been done. So, the credibility of any election to be above board, it has to be seen to have been conducted by umpires that have no affiliation or obligation to any of the interested parties. And that is why we say that the manner of choosing the INEC chairman has to change. All political parties have to participate in the process of electing an INEC chairman or appointing an INEC chairman. It is the only way we can be absolutely sure that he is going to be an unbiased umpire. That is one. Number two, leaving local government elections to the discretion of states’ electoral commission is like more or less handing the power to the state governors to appoint local government chairmen. So, that is not democracy. And we have seen it happen all the time that ruling parties continue to win every single local government election that is conducted in the states. So, unless we change the system and allow the national body to conduct the local government election,… then we are not saying that this is a fail-safe arrangement, but we are saying that this will improve the credibility, especially if the national electoral body’s chairman is also appointed through a more transparent and a more neutral basis.

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Dr. Dantalle also said IPAC is establishing directorates for women, youth and PWDs. What specific structures is ADC building to mobilise these demographics for 2027?

I mean, as you know, we have a very strong vibrant youth wing. We have a very strong vibrant women wing. As a matter of fact, we are the only party that has at least 40% of our position preserved for women and people living with disabilities. And you can see, when we started the process of nominations, the people in this category, disadvantaged people within the party, were given waivers to pay less for nomination forms. So, we strongly believe that this is a very strong constituency and the ADC will always continue to make allowances for the movement.

Now, after the exit of Peter Obi and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, are there ongoing talks between ADC and other political parties or interest groups ahead of 2027?

We still have not given up the possibility. Don’t forget that we started this coalition building. And we still believe that the window has not closed for the possibility of building a coalition ahead of 2027 because we believe that the opposition stands a better chance if we are all working together. But regardless of that, for us in the African Democratic Congress, we are convinced that we will win the election in 2027 because we have one thing that the government does not have, which is the people of Nigeria. Like I told you earlier, I don’t think there is no Nigerian today that would say that this government has improved their lives. So, that alone would give us a very good chance and a very good opportunity.

With accusations of vote-buying, what mechanisms is ADC putting in place to ensure internal democracy and the process is not compromised?

In terms of vote buying? What I want to assure you is that the African Democratic Congress will always play within the law. We are ready to match the ruling party in whatever they bring. We will do whatever it takes within the ambit of the law to protect our votes in 2027. If they think that they can steal the votes, then they have something else coming. So, in the African Democratic Congress, we are ready. We are not just going to mobilise our people to vote, we are going to mobilise them to protect their own votes.

INEC extended the deadline for political parties to submit the list of candidates for the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections to midnight on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, following an appeal by the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on behalf of political parties that were unable to upload the names and personal particulars of their candidates within the scheduled timeline. What is the take of ADC on this?

I think it is welcome. If this extension had not happened, we would still have somehow found a way to meet the deadline. We welcome the extension. Even before the extension, our average uploading rate was between 80 per cent to 100 per cent for most of the states. At least, every single state had about 20, 30 positions before we achieved 100 positions. So, it’s good.

We welcome it. But it also shows that INEC can also be flexible and accommodate the concerns and respond to the concerns of political parties. At the end of the day, what we are trying to do is to work together for democracy. So, it’s not about catching anybody.

Nigerians are still grappling with inflation and the new tax laws. What is ADC’s alternative economic blueprint for 2027?

Like we have repeatedly mentioned, we are a social democratic party. Our immediate responsibility is to protect the people and make life easier and better for them. We say we are committed to bringing down the cost of living. That is number one, to bring down the cost of living and create opportunities for people. We are not going to ask people to be selling akara and kuli-kuli. The businesses that are failing, we are going to find out how we are going to support them. You have not paid indigenous contractors. Businesses are failing every day. And the only response is that people should be frying akara and selling kuli-kuli. So, we are not going to do that. We are going to protect the people. We are going to protect their businesses. And we are going to make life better. And our manifestos are very clear regarding this.

With insecurity persisting in several states, what is ADC’s policy position that differentiates it from APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

I don’t know the party you call PDP. Is there still a party called PDP?….On a serious note, I can tell you that we believe that this government is celebrating the rescue of children kidnapped in Oyo State, which is quite heartening. And we are very glad that those children have been reunited with their families. But what we are saying is that the real victory is in ensuring that such kidnappings do not take place in the first place. And that is why we say that regardless of while we celebrate the return of the children from Oyo State, we are also saying that the same attention should be paid to rescuing people in Kwara, Kayama Local Government Area in my own Kwara State, and to also rescue children, hundreds of children that have been abducted in Borno and such other places. But it is not sustainable. It is not a good strategy for government to be rescuing people. What we need to do is to ensure that we develop a system that will ensure that people are no longer able to kidnap, that bandits and criminals are no longer able to kidnap Nigerians at will. So, the ADC strategy is going to focus on preventing these criminalities rather than rescuing people after they have been abducted and traumatised in kidnappers’ den.