Atiku, Obi ready to back neutral candidate to unseat Tinubu— ADC National Chair

ADC National Chair

By

Imoleayo Oyedeji

The National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Ralph Nwosu, speaks to IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI, on the party’s readiness to lead a coalition against President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election

Recently, you stated that your party is ready to be the face of the anti-Tinubu coalition ahead of the 2027 general election. Can you explain further?

Our party is built for such a time as this, and any other time that Nigerians are desirous of navigating a new path. We have all seen the old path that the All Progressives Congress has taken us on. We have witnessed a decline in our country’s economy. We have also seen unprecedented hunger, poverty, criminality, terrorism, and all other sorts of ominous designs to drag our country down. Above all, we have seen our democracy being trampled upon.

For us, it is sad that the President, who was a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, is trying to blow off all other parties for the APC in a bid to make the country a one-party system. But it has become apparent that the party that was built based on integrity, uprightness, and inclusion is now out to play the role, and we are open. We have called every stakeholder, saying ‘if we are serious about lifting Nigeria from this current state, the ADC was built for that.’ It has a transformation DNA and takes the African view to everything.

The fact remains that we cannot deal with Nigeria’s problems the way those currently in power are trying to do. This is because Nigeria is almost one-fourth of the global population. In every five black persons in the world, there is a Nigerian, and in almost every four Africans, there is a Nigerian. So, Nigeria constitutes more than 25 per cent of the continent’s population.

Therefore, to deal with Nigeria’s issues, you must have a continental prism. If you have an Igbo prism, you will fail. If you have a Yoruba prism, you will fail. And if you have a Hausa prism, you will also fail. You must have a clear African prism. Our party is only for people who think African and it is only when you think this way that you can elevate Nigeria and the continent at large. I must say this is our time in ADC. I have spoken with almost all the opposition leaders. I have told them that if we are interested in saving Nigeria, this is the time, and ADC is the party.

You said President Tinubu has been blowing off opposition parties to ensure the dominance of the APC and force Nigeria into a one-party system. How sure are you about it?

It was possible in Lagos, more or less, until the chain started to break towards the last election. Since 1999, no other party has scored up to 20 or 30 per cent of votes in Lagos. Isn’t that an example? With the same tactics used in penetrating and gripping all the parties, the President wants to do it at the national level, and this will imperil our democracy. So, that is why all patriots are joining us in ADC to say enough is enough.

Does that list of patriots include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi?

Yes. We are having conversations with Obi and the Labour Party faction that supports him, as well as other movements under him. We have had conversations with them. Some of them have already even collapsed their structures. The Labour Party, the Obidient groups, and the movements that support Obi have already joined the ADC in Kaduna, Lagos, Kwara, Kano, and Sokoto. As soon as we are able to tidy up the coalition initiative, you will see the people who are working with almost all of them.

If we are able to tidy up, as we pray, some of those who have contested for the presidency in the past but have now decided to come out of where they are to say this is not the path to save Nigeria, all of them will show up. It will not take months anymore before this happens. In fact, it is a matter of days and weeks.

What have been the outcomes of your engagements with those you have met?

We simply showed them what we have been putting together in the last 20 years and why certain political moves had failed. We also showed them the pathways to resuscitating the economy from the grassroots point of view. If you look at the country today, almost 75 per cent of its population is in dire straits.

In our constitution, we stated that the local government must be given the freedom to operate. But this shouldn’t just be by mouth. Despite the Supreme Court ruling, no state governor has allowed their local governments to operate independently. Dealing with Nigeria’s issues doesn’t require rocket science. It is just that our ethical compass has to be recalibrated. In ADC, we have the documents outlining the needed reforms, and we have kept showing them to every stakeholder we meet. If they buy in, we work with them; and if they don’t, we go. But Nigeria must be rescued in 2027.

Considering the fact that some of the political bigwigs you mentioned have diverse interests and ambitions, do you think there won’t be friction when you have all of them in ADC?

I have had meetings with almost all of them, and for them, it is Nigeria first. During our consultation, we told Atiku that the temperature of the country for our democracy is not good. We said, why don’t we build a mega coalition? And he said, ‘I am in for it, not for me, but for Nigeria.’ Obi and Amaechi also shared the same view. Let’s do something for Nigeria and leave ourselves out of it. That is the type of selfless sacrifice that we in ADC are making daily. We have done that for more than 20 years, and I am glad that all of them are seeing it. Don’t be surprised that they are all coming into this alliance and saying, ‘we are not running, get us a very neutral person.’ The basic thing is that they are not doing this alliance for personal reasons. They are doing it to build the Nigeria that is in decline.

Both Atiku and Obi have been nursing ambition to become Nigeria’s president for some years now. Some analysts said only a joint ticket of Atiku and Obi can defeat Tinubu in 2027. How possible is this in your party?

In case you don’t know, a committee headed by our BOT chairman, Dr. Mani Ahmed, was constituted to go and talk with all the opposition leaders. They all said that they are coming together not because of themselves, but for the country, and that they are in for any platform that shares their view. In coming together to work for Nigeria, the opposition leaders may end up looking for a neutral candidate to shock Nigerians. That time will soon come. But the most important thing is sitting down together to sign an agreement that we will all work together, not for our individual selves, but for the country. That was why I said our people are becoming more patriotic. So, I call the ongoing alliance a coalition of patriots to rescue Nigeria. Mind you, the concerned parties are all aware that there can be only one president.

It has been said that any party that will win a presidential election in Nigeria must have strong footholds in the 36 states of the federation in terms of grassroots presence. Does your party have such a formidable structure that can match that of the ruling APC?

We have a better structure than any other party in Nigeria. The only problem that we have always had is that people tend to be easily blinded once they are in some comfort zones. But immediately that comfort zone is taken away, they will look around, and in doing so, they will find a great haven. That is what has happened to ADC. If you go to our constitution, you will see that we are well structured down to the polling unit level. If our plans materialise, by God’s grace, and we have quality people with our system well financed, I bet you, our framework is stronger than that of any other political party in the country. We understand how to win elections. We may have had some challenges with many things, but we have grown for almost 20 years and are getting stronger, having learnt more than any of the current operators. We have learnt how to do things differently. If Nigeria holds a different quality election, we are going to win in every polling unit.

One of the issues that caused crises in other opposition parties in the country, especially the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, was a clash of interests. Don’t you see this playing out in your party with the coming of the coalition leaders?

It depends on why they are coming together and the leadership in place. If the existing leadership is focused and driven by no other agenda than Nigeria first, that kind of derailment will not happen. We have witnessed challenges in our party and dealt with them in a particular way. And after that, we tidied up our constitution and our political processes. So, I can tell you that we won’t experience such things 100 per cent.

The APC has continued to insist that any anti-Tinubu coalition is dead on arrival. Are you sure your coalition is going to sail through?

I can assure you that we will have this conversation again when the ADC is celebrating after the 2027 election.

But there has been a widespread belief that the ruling party can use federal might to force its candidate into power. What strength does your party have to counter such a move in 2027?

Do you know what is called ‘the people’s might?’ We have made it clear that the coming election will not be won by eight million votes, and that the minimum vote that Nigeria’s next president under ADC will have is 37.5 million votes. So, how can you checkmate 37 to 40 million votes and outdo them? Tinubu won with about 8.6 million votes. But the president that will be declared under ADC won’t have anything less than 37 million votes, and it is because the people are hungry and angry. They are now looking for people who believe in the country and have a clear roadmap and solutions with good experience.

How many states are you sure your party can win in the next general elections?

In all the cities I have visited, including Abuja, Lagos, Ota, Abeokuta, and Oyo, it is boldly written: Ebi pa awon eniyan. Everybody is hungry. This is not about Yoruba, Igbo, or Hausa. Hunger is killing everybody.

Would an ADC president have reduced or eradicated the hunger within two years in office?

It will happen within one year. We have been taking the issues one after the other. By the time you see our manifesto and how realistic a lot of things are in this country, you will understand.

But the so-called transformative manifestos of both Atiku and Obi weren’t able to win them the majority of votes individually during the last election…

I must say that one of the most qualitative governments we have had in this current democratic dispensation was that of Obasanjo and Atiku. Obasanjo was in the driver’s seat as the chief pilot, and Atiku was the co-pilot. That administration had very clear ideas, well thought out, and it was driven on the basis of Nigeria first. The two men came from different backgrounds: Obasanjo came from the military, while Atiku was from the civilian system. So, they often clashed, but Atiku still watched Obasanjo do the piloting. Don’t you think he has taken a lot from that experience?

Some observers have said Atiku should step aside for fresh and younger minds, having made several failed attempts to become Nigeria’s president. Do you support that position?

I don’t want to comment on any individual to avoid sounding biased. If I am wooing Amaechi, Atiku, Obi, Emeka Uwajuiba, Mustapha Malami, Nasir El-Rufai, and a host of other former presidential aspirants, the last thing I should do is to appear biased against any of them. All I know is that there will only be one coalition, and I believe all other parties will join the coalition the moment the sheep start to show. This is because a lot of transformational leaders are at work, coming up with different strategies.

Imoleayo Oyedeji

The Punch Newspapers