Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has dismissed the newly-formed opposition coalition adopting the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a desperate alliance driven by personal ambition and animosity against the president.
In a scathing post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Onanuga said many of the politicians who publicly defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the ADC on Wednesday had already left “years and months ago” and had no current relevance in the ruling party.
“Rotimi Amaechi’s soul left the APC in 2022 after losing the presidential primary to President Tinubu,” Onanuga wrote. “Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney-General, has never hidden his estrangement from the APC since Tinubu assumed leadership and since he lost the governorship bid in Kebbi.”
On Tuesday, key opposition figures including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi met with ADC leaders and adopted the party as the platform for their 2027 electoral coalition. The coalition appointed former Senate President David Mark as interim national chairman and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola as interim secretary.
Wednesday’s unveiling in Abuja drew several high-profile defectors across party lines, including former transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi, former sports minister Solomon Dalung, former APC national chairman John Odigie-Oyegun, and other notable names like Dino Melaye, Dele Momodu, Ireti Kingibe, Eyinnanya Abaribe, and Abubakar Malami.
But Onanuga insisted the gathering was no more than a congregation of “disgruntled politicians” with no unifying vision or ideology.
“Hadi Sirika, now with the ADC, is facing trial for contract splitting and other allegations,” Onanuga added. “The renegade Rauf Aregbesola committed anti-party in the last Osun election and was expelled as an unfit APC member.”
“Kashim Imam and the octogenarian Chief John Odigie Oyegun are among the disgruntled politicians posturing as would-be saviours of Nigeria,” he continued. “Imam abandoned the APC after failing to secure the vice-presidential ticket in 2022. Chief Oyegun, a former party chairman, also lost interest in the APC and has been a foundational member of this coalition since its inception.”
Onanuga warned Nigerians not to be swayed by the political spectacle, stating that the coalition had no real direction beyond opposing Tinubu.
“My advice to Nigerians: Shine your eyes very well,” he wrote. “A political party with no clear agenda or ideology — whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu — can not be good for our country. It will only set us back by decades.”
“These politicians are desperados, hungry for power — not for the benefit of Nigerians but for themselves,” he concluded.
The ADC coalition has described its movement as a national rescue mission ahead of the 2027 general elections, but the Tinubu administration and its allies remain confident that it poses no significant threat to the APC’s hold on power.
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