A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dele Momodu, has suggested that opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, have outsmarted President Bola Tinubu’s administration through their political strategies ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise programme on Friday, Momodu claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is unsettled by the prospect of strong opposition and is attempting to eliminate competition by ensuring President Tinubu emerges as a consensus candidate in 2027.
He alleged that government agents have been working to destabilize opposition parties by creating factions, citing similar developments in the Labour Party, PDP, and NNPP. According to him, the ADC anticipated such interference and took deliberate steps to secure its structure.
Momodu explained that the opposition deliberately misled the ruling party into believing they were aligning with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) or another emerging platform before unveiling the ADC. He commended the resilience and strategic planning of ADC leaders, saying they were “many steps ahead” of attempts to frustrate the coalition.
“It’s obvious that the ruling party is jittery. The ruling party does not want any strong competition in 2027 in particular. They are not too bothered about the governors and the rest of them, but they want a sole candidate. If possible, all political parties would rise up and endorse one man, and that is the president and commander in chief. So I was not surprised yesterday, when the news broke again that these guys are on their way to court,” Momodu said.
He added, “We all know what is going on. There’s nothing wrong with anybody going to court if you are aggrieved. But fortunately, they should have known that the conveners of ADC, the conveners worked extremely hard behind the scene to arrive at where we are now. They took their time. They knew the government agents would attempt to force their efforts like they have done in Labour, like they are doing in PDP, like they are doing in NNPP, creating factions everywhere. So but the gentlemen and leaders who worked on ADC, you must salute them. They are very experienced people, well exposed politicians, so they tried to tighten all the screws. And it was a surprise.”
Momodu noted that many were misled into thinking the coalition would adopt the SDP after El-Rufai’s declaration, while others speculated about ADA, before ADC eventually emerged. “So I wasn’t shocked. I wasn’t surprised. The truth of the matter is that those who should be in the know, the real stakeholders know everything that is being planned to frustrate ADC, and so far, they are many steps ahead of that frustration,” he said.
He criticised attempts to weaken democracy, stating, “It’s a shame that a day will come after all we went through in the military era, that a civilian government would not want democracy to prosper. Many people died for this democracy and we will never expect the day when a few people would want to hijack it just for their own personal use, and that’s what is happening.”
On the state of the PDP, Momodu said the party was regressing rather than progressing. “You see PDP, PDP have not been able to move forward. And I don’t even say PDP is in the state of inertia right now. It’s even going backwards. Whenever they think, okay, they found a solution, one man will stand up and frustrate it and boast openly that they can use the judiciary, they can use INEC. So now INEC has failed, the attempt to use INEC has failed, the next one will be the judiciary. And I hope the judiciary will be bold enough,” he said.
He urged judicial officers to resist pressure, warning that history would hold them accountable. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. People in the judiciary should live for legacy to know that their children and grandchildren and others unborn will live in this Nigeria. So if you destroy Nigeria, look at all those who destroyed Nigeria in the past, where are they today? So for me, I will only appeal to the judiciary: do not fall for their temptations and do not fall for their coercion,” Momodu concluded.
