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The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, has described the exit of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso from the party as a setback and “a bit of relief”.
Kwankwaso and Obi ditched the ADC for a new party, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), on Sunday, citing internal crisis within the party.
Abdullahi, while speaking with Arise News on Monday, insisted that the duo’s exit from the ADC was not a fatal blow to the party’s ambitions.
“Is it a setback? The answer is yes. Is it a fatal blow? The answer is no, because the objectives are very clear. They are still the same,” he said.
“In a way, it’s a bit of relief. Now we can focus on really doing what we need to do without being under the pressure cooker that they were trying to put us in. I am not disheartened. No, no, not at all.”
Abdullahi added that despite their exit, the ADC does not consider the duo as foes.
“We don’t think they are our enemies. We are not going to go into a dogfight with them,” he said.
The ADC, a coalition which vows to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, has been plagued by internal leadership tussles that have led to litigation. The party has yet to receive a definite judgment on its crisis, and stakeholders warn that this may affect the party’s chances of contesting in the 2027 election.
Obi, while announcing his resignation from the ADC, said the “Nigerian state and its agents created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party” and stoked a crisis within the ADC, prompting his exit from both parties.
“However, the same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems and playing politics built more on control and exclusion than on service and nation-building,” said Obi.
