African Democratic Congress says none of the current state governors has shown interest in joining the coalition because of the alleged intimidation by the Federal Government.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this at the third plenary session of the Northern Political Consultative Group, in Abuja, on Saturday.
Speaking during the programme with the theme: ‘Peace and social cohesion: A panacea to challenges of the North’, Abdullahi expressed the willingness of the coalition party to welcome everyone into its fold.
According to him, “No serving governor would be willing to cross over because of the intimidation that they are facing.
“We know what they are doing to them. Some of them who cannot jump to their party are saying we are endorsing their presidential candidate. No problem. But what you are seeing is a conspiracy against the Nigerian people.
“The ADC welcomes everybody, but we are convinced that we are a movement that has the backing of the majority of Nigerians who are not happy with the direction this country is going.”
Regarding the 2027 presidential candidate, Abdullahi said the ADC has not entered into any discussions about who will emerge its flagbearer.
He said, “We don’t have any favourite aspirants or candidates. We are not having any conversation at the moment.
“Nobody has ever had any conversation about who will be the party’s flag bearer. We believe that it is too early in the day. Our focus now is to build a political party that is strong enough to deliver on the mission that we have set for ourselves.”
Earlier, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, who is also a member of the coalition, had said the ADC would rally round anyone who wins its presidential ticket.
“The ADC as a political party is a party that is founded on democratic principles. We are going to conduct congresses and conventions to elect our representatives at the election. And whoever emerges—be it North, South, Central, West—whoever emerges at either the congresses or at the convention, ADC will support it, and the Northern Political Consultative Group will support that decision.”
So far, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, have indicated interest in the ADC presidential ticket.
The coalition has vowed to use every lawful means to unseat President Bola Tinubu, but dismissing their threat, Tinubu described the group as a “Coalition of confusion”.
