The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it does not need a coalition of opposition parties to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, insisting that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is capable of winning the election.
The ADC spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday night while discussing the opposition’s strategy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Abdullahi said although the party initially believed that a broad-based opposition coalition would make it easier to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), developments within the opposition have changed the situation.
“When we started building this coalition, we started on the assumption that if we are able to build a broad-based coalition, it will make our job of beating the APC easier. But that didn’t pan out the way we expected,” Abdullahi said.
He noted that some prominent figures who were initially involved in the coalition had moved to other political platforms.
“Now, one of the key players, leaders in the coalition, has gone to the NDC, and that’s His Excellency Peter Albee, and, of course, Governor Raibiu, Moussa Akonkwa, so has his running mate. We are in the African Democratic Congress,” he said.
Abdullahi, however, expressed confidence that the ADC could defeat the APC without relying on a coalition.
“So what I’m saying is that we are going to win. We don’t need a coalition to win this election. The African Democratic Congress does not need a coalition to win this election,” Abdullahi said.
“If we are able to build the kind of coalition that we started, maybe it will make our job easier. But we don’t need that coalition. We don’t necessarily need the coalition to win the election.”
When asked whether Atiku could independently defeat Tinubu, Abdullahi responded: “Absolutely, we don’t. Atiku can so amicably do the job. I believe so.”
The ADC spokesperson also dismissed the argument that Tinubu would defeat opposition candidates in one-on-one contests, saying the real contest was between the president and Nigerian voters.
“What about Bola Tinubu versus Nigerians?” he asked.
Abdullahi argued that the experiences of Nigerians under the Tinubu administration over the past three years could influence voters to reject the president in 2027.
He said some Nigerians who voted for Tinubu in 2023 could change their allegiance after concluding that the president had failed to meet their expectations
“They will say, oh, this man, I voted for him in the last election, he has betrayed me. He didn’t do what I wanted him to. He betrayed the social contract. I therefore will not vote for him. This time I will vote for somebody else,” Abdullahi said.
According to him, the ADC believes Atiku is currently the opposition candidate offering Nigerians a clear alternative.
“And the only candidate today that is saying, I will make your life better, in concrete terms, is a larger Atiku Awumaka,” he said.
Abdullahi further claimed that the economic hardship experienced by Nigerians had created growing opposition to the Tinubu administration.
“But what I’m saying is that the experience of Nigerians in the last three years has pushed people to the extent that they are saying that anybody but President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
On the possibility of cooperation among opposition parties, Abdullahi said discussions were still ongoing but stressed that the focus was no longer necessarily on producing a single presidential candidate.
“We are still having conversations among ourselves, our opposition political parties. And there are different areas. You’ve heard about the G100,” he said.
Abdullahi explained that the G100 was working to mobilise opposition groups but said the discussions were increasingly centred on cooperation rather than a merger behind one presidential candidate.
“The conversation is not about how do we produce a single presidential candidate. The conversation predominantly is about what areas of cooperation are possible,” Abdullahi said.
He cited election monitoring and vote protection as areas where opposition parties could collaborate.
“For example, if we are able to develop a common protocol for election monitoring and for policing our votes, that is major,” he said.
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