With voices of dissent emerging from the African Democratic Congress a few hours after the party was adopted as the vehicle for the opposition coalition to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027, coupled with the unwillingness of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and the New Nigeria People’s Party to collapse their structures into the adopted party,  writes that the capacity of the ADC to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress remains doubtful

The opposition coalition seeking to sack President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections recorded a major breakthrough on Tuesday when it formally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its official political platform.

The ADC’s adoption followed a strong suspicion by the coalition that its efforts to register a new political party, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), might be frustrated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through delays. 

The ADC’s nationwide presence and existing infrastructure made it a strategic choice for the opposition.

However, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and other prominent opposition not joining the ADC to form a strong opposition, it is doubtful if the adopted party is a formidable platform that can wrestle power from the ruling party.

While some prominent chieftains of the PDP and the APC, and the LP have identified with this coalition, the leadership of these major opposition parties are not favourably disposed to the formation of a strong coalition similar to the merger that produced the APC in 2013.

It appears all the leaders of the different opposition parties are not willing to relinquish their positions and subsume their selfish interests under any collective interest.

The coalition appointed former Senate President, Senator David Mark as the national chairman of ADC and former governor of Osun State and immediate past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, a chieftain of APC, as national secretary, while former Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, was made spokesperson of the party.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; presidential candidate of LP in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi; former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; former Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and other chieftains of different political parties are championing this coalition.

But political analysts believe that it takes more than the presence of prominent politicians in ADC for the party to sack the ruling party.

For analysts, all the major opposition political parties must collapse their structures and form a common front.

It took the merger of the then four major opposition parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the opposition APC to defeat the ruling PDP in 2015 general election.

Indications that the leadership of the main opposition parties are not willing to collapse their structures into ADC emerged from the absence of the leaders of these political parties in the coalition meeting that adopted the ADC.

Rather than joining the ADC, the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party, for instance, has served Obi a 48-hour quit notice to leave the party for joining the opposition coalition.

According to a statement issued on Thursday by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the LP under Abure’s leadership said it remains vehemently opposed to joining the coalition just as it dismissed members of the coalition as “power mongers whose only interest was self and not the people.”

To further demonstrate that the opposition parties would rather work against themselves than joining forces against the APC, the Abure’s LP, in a subtle attack on Obi’s campaign slogan, warned Nigerians that the often- mouthed ‘new Nigeria is Possible’ is a ruse.

 According to the LP, new Nigeria cannot be achieved with the assemblage of old, recycled, desperate and frustrated politicians in the coalition.

However, the LP faction led by its acting chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, in a statement by her Senior Special Adviser, Ken Eluma Asogwa, countered Abure, saying that the party had on May 26, 2025, publicly declared its full support for Obi’s involvement in the coalition efforts aimed at creating a “robust political alternative to rescue Nigeria from the disastrous misrule of the APC.”

There are also indications that the ADC is not insulated from the crises that hit the main opposition parties as some members of the party under the aegis of Concerned Stakeholders of the ADC has rejected Aregbesola’s appointment as the interim national secretary of the ADC, saying it lacked due process, transparency and legitimacy.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the original national publicity secretary of the party, Dr. Musa Isa Matara, the group stated that, “until a legitimate, constitutionally-backed National Convention or National Executive Council (NEC) of the ADC confirms the leadership changes, no one has the moral or legal right to speak for the party nationally”.

Outgoing ADC National Chairman Ralph O. Nwosu, had on Wednesday, announced that the state-level leaders of the party have resigned to allow the party to become the official platform of the newly formed opposition coalition.

However, it is not yet certain if Nwosu’s position had the support of all the different organs and stakeholders in the party, many of whom could be sponsored to challenge Nwosu’s decision in court.

Already, the presidential candidate of the ADC in the 2023 election, Dumebi Kachikwu has kicked against the adoption of his party as a coalition platform.

Kachikwu described the opposition figures, led by Atiku, as “enemies of Nigeria,” who ruined the country.

“The same people who put our country on its knees are the same people who claim they are fire brigade and they want to put out fire. And you think these people are out to rescue Nigeria? They are political jobbers,” he said.

But the spokesperson of the ADC, Abdullahi, on Thursday, insisted that there is no crisis in the party.

Speaking on ARISE Television’s Morning Show, Abdullahi insisted that there is no factionalisation within the ADC.

He said: “There is no confusion or crisis in the ADC; we are very clear about this. I understand what Dumebi is saying. They may have had issues when he was the presidential candidate, but for us, we are on solid legal footing.

“If he has any particular grievances—and we understand that people have grievances—we are ready to deal with them. But we don’t understand what his grievances are.”

However, even if the ADC is not factionalised, the PDP, LP, NNPP and all other prominent opposition parties have to collapse their structures into the ADC.

In the absence of such a merger, it is feared that the opposition parties will end up splitting and sharing the majority votes in the 2027 presidential election as they did in 2023, while the APC emerges victorious with minority votes.