The Presidency has dismissed the newly formed opposition coalition adopting the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a desperate alliance lacking in ideology and driven solely by personal ambition.
In a statement released on Thursday via X, Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, cautioned Nigerians against what he described as a deceptive coalition of disgruntled politicians seeking power at all costs.
He argued that the group has no coherent vision for the country and is held together only by its shared opposition to the President.
Onanuga highlighted that several of the coalition members, including Rotimi Amaechi, Abubakar Malami, and Hadi Sirika, have long ceased to be relevant within the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He also noted that Rauf Aregbesola was expelled from the APC for anti-party activities during the last Osun State election, while Kashim Imam and former party chairman John Odigie Oyegun were described as disillusioned figures seeking political relevance.
The Presidency warned that the coalition’s members, lacking a unified ideology, would soon be torn apart by conflicting personal ambitions.
Nigerians were urged to be wary of a group described as a collection of political desperados attempting to return to power not in service of the country, but to escape political irrelevance.
The statement reads, “Some members of the hijacked ADC, who were reported as members of the APC, left the APC years and months ago. Let the public not be deceived by the opposition’s narrative about their relevance or whether the APC will mourn their departure.
“- Rotimi Amaechi’s soul left the APC in 2022 after losing the presidential primary to President Tinubu.
“- Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney-General, has never hidden his estrangement from the APC since Tinubu assumed leadership and since he lost the governorship bid in Kebbi.
“- Hadi Sirika, now with the ADC, is facing trial for contract splitting and other allegations.
“- The renegade Rauf Aregbesola committed anti-party activities in the last Osun election and was expelled as an unfit APC member
“Kashim Imam and the octogenarian Chief John Odigie Oyegun are among the disgruntled politicians posturing as would-be saviours of Nigeria. Imam abandoned the APC after failing to secure the vice-presidential ticket in 2022. Chief Oyegun, a former party chairman, also lost interest in the APC and has been a foundational member of this coalition since its inception
“My advice to Nigerians: Keep your eyes wide open. A political party with no clear agenda or ideology—whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu—cannot be good for our country. It will only set us back by decades.
“These politicians are desperados, hungry for power, not for the benefit of Nigerians but for themselves. They want power at all costs because they cannot endure another four years in the political wilderness or be banished to political winter and irrelevance.
“What is certain is that the group will soon unravel due to their irreconcilable personal ambitions.
The warning follows the coalition’s formal adoption of the ADC as its political platform during a high-level meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
As part of the arrangement, former Senate President David Mark was named interim National Chairman, and former Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola was appointed interim National Secretary.
The coalition includes several prominent politicians such as Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi, who are expected to play key roles in challenging President Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
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