The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Monday accused the Federal Government of engineering a clandestine plot to destabilise its fast-growing opposition coalition, saying recent moves by some officials in President Bola Tinubu’s administration are aimed at weakening multiparty democracy in Nigeria.
The party’s alarm was raised in a statement issued by its Interim National Publicity Secretary and National Coalition Spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who alleged that former state chairmen and members of ADC state executive committees in the North East and North West have been invited to secret meetings with high-ranking government officials.
“We have credible intelligence that the aim of this meeting is not for national security or peacebuilding,” Abdullahi told journalists. “It is to intimidate, coerce, and if possible, co-opt these individuals into a fabricated scheme against the opposition coalition. This is not politics. This is sabotage.”
According to him, the ultimate goal of the plot is to sow division within the ADC, delegitimise its newly constituted leadership, and derail what he described as the party’s “soaring momentum” as the face of a united opposition in Nigeria.
Abdullahi said: “Let it be clear, this surreptitious dalliance with ADC state chairpersons by appointees of the federal government — who should be preoccupied with the urgent security and economic challenges confronting our nation — is nothing short of a coordinated assault on multiparty democracy. This is precisely how one-party states are birthed, through intimidation and manipulation.”
The ADC’s claims come barely a week after it formally unveiled itself as the anchor party of a broader coalition of opposition interests, a move party leaders say has visibly unsettled the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The July 1st Coalition Declaration and the unveiling of the ADC the next day have clearly rattled the ruling party,” Abdullahi said. “It is now obvious that the Tinubu administration — having lost the trust of the Nigerian people — cannot withstand the pressure of a credible and united opposition. Rather than address its failings, it has reverted to its old playbook of destabilising opposition parties.”
He warned that the ADC would not stand by and watch “a handful of desperate men turn Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship,” stressing that the party owed it to Nigerians to resist such moves “by every democratic means available.”
“This party belongs to every Nigerian who is tired of the lies, the manipulation and the hardship,” Abdullahi declared. “It belongs to every citizen who wants to see a return to decency, vision and justice in governance.”
The ADC spokesman also issued a direct appeal to President Tinubu to rein in members of his government allegedly involved in the plot.
“We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take note of these sinister moves by some of his appointees and call them to order,” he said. “The President needs to demonstrate to Nigerians that he is indeed a democrat. He should remind his men that if the Goodluck Jonathan administration were as intolerant and subversive of opposition as this, the APC would never have come to power in 2015, and he would not be President today.”
Political observers say the ADC’s latest allegations could escalate tensions between the government and opposition groups, especially at a time when multiple parties are exploring alliances ahead of future elections.
Efforts to get comments from presidential spokesmen on Monday evening were unsuccessful, as calls and text messages seeking their reactions were not immediately returned.