By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has described the recent defection of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso from the party as a premeditated move.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Arise News Prime Time with Charles Aniagolu on Monday night, Abdullahi described the ADC as a party with clear ideology and structure capable of offering Nigerians credible alternatives, but according to him, some political actors were more interested in using the party as a mere \u201cspecial purpose vehicle\u201d for their personal ambition.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that the government has thrown at the ADC, we have resisted. We have fought back and remained committed to our goal of rescuing Nigerians from the failure of this government,\u201d Abdullahi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been fighting for democracy within a party that has given us the best chance to serve the Nigerian people. Even Peter Obi once said at a coalition meeting that if we present two candidates against Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we would be handing him victory in 2027. So, what has changed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dismissing claims that legal challenges influenced the defection, Abdullahi said the ADC currently faces only \u201cthree flimsy cases in court,\u201d insisting that such concerns could not justify the exit.<\/p>\n
He further stated that Obi received significant concessions within the party, including the opportunity to nominate the National Organising Secretary, a position widely regarded as the operational backbone of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the aspirants or leaders was given as much consideration as Peter Obi. The office of the National Organising Secretary is the engine room of the party. It handles congresses, elections, and core operations. That office is occupied by his nominee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Addressing claims by some of Obi\u2019s supporters that the party was skewed in favour of a particular candidate, Abdullahi said such assertions were unfounded.
\n\u201cWe met with Peter Obi consistently. He attended coalition meetings regularly. He made it clear he would only join if the ticket was zoned. He took nearly a year to join the ADC and never raised concerns about bias within the party, because there was none,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Using a metaphor to illustrate his point, Abdullahi said: \u201cWhen a woman wants to leave a marriage, she gives all kinds of reasons, including being suffocated by too much love. That is what we are seeing now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasised that while individuals are free to associate with any political platform, those who choose to leave should avoid offering what he described as \u201cflimsy excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdullahi also revealed that Obi\u2019s defection appeared to have been in motion for some time, citing a meeting held two months ago in Kano involving Obi, Kwankwaso, and former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that meeting in Kano, I reached out to Governor Dickson and asked what had transpired. Kwankwaso had been considering joining the ADC, and suddenly, things changed. It raised questions about whether there were efforts to divide the opposition and create an advantage for the incumbent,\u201d he said.
\nAccording to Abdullahi, Dickson indicated that the NDC remained an alternative platform open to interested politicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this suggests is that the defection of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was pre-planned. It even raises the question of whether Kwankwaso\u2019s involvement in the ADC was a trojan horse at the onset,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has described the recent defection of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso from the party as a premeditated move. Speaking on Arise News Prime Time with Charles Aniagolu on Monday night, Abdullahi described the ADC as a party with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13357,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356\/revisions\/13357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}