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Deji Elumoye and Chuks Okocha in Abuja  

The Presidency has dismissed the opposition coalition and its African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a desperate and disjointed attempt to unseat President Bola Tinubu, and urged them to forget the 2027 general election and prepare for the 2031 polls.

But former Vice President Atiku Abubakar stated that ADC is a patriotic movement that is genuinely guided by national interest, as against desperation being postulated by Tinubu’s administration.
Atiku also vowed to resist electoral fraud and oppose bad governance in the country.
This is just as the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the mission of the party is not merely to remove President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) by 2027, but to prove to Nigerians that there is a better alternative to the ruling party’s planned one-party structure and destruction of all valued national institutions.

Presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, who addressed journalists in Abuja yesterday, said those coalescing around the ADC to challenge the president’s second-term ambition were motivated by “avarice and opportunism” rather than any genuine national interest.
“There is no vacancy in Aso Rock until 2031,” Dare said pointedly.
“President Tinubu is barely two years into a transformative administration that has delivered reforms with courage, stability with clarity, and vision with determination,” he added.
Dare insisted that Tinubu’s administration remained unshaken and unmatched in democratic capacity and political reach.

“The Presidency already rests with the region rightfully due. And that’s where it will be till 2031,” Dare stated, taking aim at what he described as “disgruntled politicians” who had “carried their political harlotry” to the ADC.
He said none of the figures in the emerging coalition possess the discipline, selflessness, or grassroots support to replicate what happened in 2013 when a disciplined merger produced the APC and unseated an incumbent.
“In 2013, the merger that birthed the APC was driven by national interest. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, despite commanding the loyalty of several sitting governors, chose to wait. He bided his time, played the long game, and built a viable political structure,” he explained.

Dare contrasted that with the current opposition coalition, saying, “Today, no one in this coalition commands that kind of loyalty or trust. Not one of them could genuinely unite a ward, let alone a country.”
He further dismissed the coalition’s narrative of injustice in the system, calling it a “political fairy tale” sold to manipulate public sentiment.
“There is no injustice to redress — only an ambition to control the national treasury. Nigerians are too wise to fall for this illusion,” Dare said.

Responding to the scathing criticisms of the coalition and ADC, Atiku stated that ADC is genuinely guided by national interest as against desperation being postulated by Tinubu’s administration.
Atiku, through the head of his media office, Paul Ibe, argued that what was proposed by the coalition is a truly democratic party with clear ideology and open internal democracy, and “not a cult-like structure driven by one man’s ego”, adding that the coalition plans to adopt a democratic structure rooted in open primaries and competitive processes.

He dismissed the attacks, saying that they were borne out of obvious fear that has manifested in Tinubu’s presidency and the APC.
He said the coalition is not about recycling ambition, but about rescuing a country in decline, and invited every Nigerian, especially the youth, to watch closely and engage.
Ibe delivered a point-by-point rebuttal to the criticisms by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
While responding to Onanuga’s post on X, in which the presidential aide dismissed the coalition as a gathering of disgruntled politicians, Ibe said: “Well, I wonder what Bayo Onanuga meant by ‘spent.’ Is it in terms of years in politics, or because they lost to Tinubu in 2023?

“Because if we’re talking about who appears spent, then look no further than President Tinubu himself. Tinubu, more than any of the opposition leaders, exhibits signs of political fatigue and opacity.  
“When you look at Tinubu, what comes to mind is not energy or clarity. This is a man whose age is unclear, whose school history is suspect, and whose life story is riddled with contradictions. You cannot claim vibrancy while carrying that much baggage,” he explained.

While countering Wike, who during a media chat, accused the opposition of seeking to destabilise the government due to their failure to gain power, Ibe pointedly described Wike’s statement as ironic.
Ibe further said: “The very man who is now benefiting from the coalition of 2015, and who himself has more or less left the PDP for the APC, is now calling others desperate for doing the same.

“What changed? Is it no longer democracy when those out of power unite to challenge the status quo?” he asked.
 Ibe stressed that the coalition was bound by a singular focus, which is Nigeria, saying: “The interest driving this coalition is the Nigerian interest. Not Atiku’s interest, not Obi’s, not El-Rufai’s. They are harmonising strengths because the nation is in crisis, and what we need now is collective action to fix it”.
Ibe stressed that the appointment of former President of the Senate, David Mark, as interim chairman was evidence of the coalition’s seriousness and credibility.

According to Ibe, “they chose David Mark because he is not a politician you can push around. He has integrity and the experience to guide this movement through its formative phase”.
 Ibe stressed that Onanuga’s statement was a deflection tactic, stressing that, “rather than address the deepening economic hardship and insecurity under their watch, they are trying to label anyone who criticizes them as irrelevant or corrupt. It won’t work.
“It is not lost on Nigerians that many of the people Onanuga insulted were instrumental to the APC’s rise in 2015. If they have become enemies now, it says more about the party’s internal decay than the individuals themselves,” he said.

In a related development, Atiku has also vowed to stand against electoral fraud and oppose bad governance in the country.
Atiku spoke when he received a delegation from Gombe State led by a former minister and Senator, Idris Abdullahi at his residence in Abuja.
According to Atiku in his X account, “Yesterday, I vowed to stand against the stealing of elections and oppose bad governance.
”The coalition of opposition leaders under the umbrella of the ADC would work assiduously to usher in a positive change that will transform the lives of our people.

”The quality of the interim leadership shows that we are ready to bring integrity to the process and give Nigerians the responsible leadership they deserve.
”I am further inspired by the Gombe stakeholders’ pledge of total support and loyalty to the decision of the coalition by joining the ADC.
”The group reminded me that I laid the foundation for the development of Gombe State when I supported the election of Danjuma Goje as governor in 2003.”

Bolaji Abdullahi: We will Provide the Alternative to APC’s Misrule

Meanwhile, ADC’s spokesman, Abdullahi, has explained that the coalition is to show Nigerians that there is another positive way to prevent the destruction of the National Assembly and other national institutions by the APC.
“Unlike what the chieftains of the APC are saying that the ADC is out to destroy democracy and the nation, we will say that Nigeria is already at the level of the precipice. We are on a rescue mission.
”Look at the cost of living. At N70,000, the minimum wage is like N7,000 or less. Look at the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). Look at the value of the naira.

“Our mission is to improve the welfare of Nigerians. We are already at the edge of the precipice. We want to stop the spiral food inflation, bring back Nigeria from this dangerous level the nation has been taken to by the APC.
”So, to put it mildly, ADC is out to prove to Nigerians that there is an alternative and that is what we represent,” Abdullahi added.