The African Democratic Congress has said that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is unsettled by the growing strength of the 2027 opposition coalition, which it claims poses a serious threat to the government of President Bola Tinubu, whom Wike serves.

In a statement issued on Thursday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said Wike’s recent outbursts cannot halt the momentum of the coalition.

While addressing journalists during his monthly media briefing in Abuja, Wike dismissed the emerging opposition alliance, insisting that only the Peoples Democratic Party has the structure and capacity to unseat President Tinubu in 2027. He also maintained that Nigerians are not considering the ADC as a viable political force.

Although President Tinubu’s administration has recorded notable achievements and faced several challenges across sectors, opposition leaders have consistently criticized the APC-led government and labeled it a failure.

In a bid to reposition themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections, leading opposition figures met in Abuja on March 20 to launch a new coalition, stirring national conversations about the possibility of a united opposition.

After wide consultations, prominent political actors including Labour Party’s Peter Obi, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, and ex-Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi gathered in Abuja on Wednesday to unveil the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the coalition’s official political platform.

In response to Wike, the ADC Publicity Secretary stated that if the administration Wike serves had fulfilled its promises, there would be no need for the coalition, and Wike wouldn’t be feeling so unsettled.

The former Minister of Sport stated, “The ADC has taken note of the virulent attacks launched on the various leaders of the coalition movement by the Hon. Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike in his media chat today.

“Without justifying this behaviour that we find incompatible with the office of a Federal Minister, we believe Minister Wike could only descend to that level because of his mortal fear of the threat that the successful unveiling of the coalition of opposition political parties constitutes to the government that he serves.

“We observe that if minister Wike and the government that he serves had kept their promises to the Nigerian people, the coalition movement would not have been necessary and he would not have had a need to be so jittery.

“If minister Wike had paid the salaries of primary school teachers who have been on strike for several months and if he had not treated FCT workers with so much contempt, while he goes about commissioning white elephant projects running into billions of Naira, he would have had no need to be afraid of the coalition.”

The ADC Publicity Secretary said the coalition leaders are upset that Minister Wike let himself be used by the government to ruin the PDP, once a leading political force in Africa.

He stated, “Minister Wike claimed in his media chat that the coalition leaders are driven only by grievances. If we have any grievances, it is the way the government he is a part of has driven majority of Nigerians into poverty and misery.

“We are aggrieved to see children of the poor unable to get education because he would not pay their teachers’ salaries. We are aggrieved to watch the growing insecurity in the FCT that he superintends.

“We are aggrieved that minister Wike had allowed himself to be used by the government he serves to destroy one of the most powerful political parties in Africa, the PDP.

“But it is rather too late in the day to cry. The coalition movement belongs to the Nigerian people who had been promised renewed hope, but have been served renewed hopelessness. Therefore, no amount of tirade against the leaders of the coalition could stem the tide of this popular movement.”