Following the appointments in the new Coalition Party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Presidency through Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has warned Nigerians to not allow themselves be “deceived” as most members of the “hijacked ADC” were former members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) “who left years and months ago”.
On Wednesday, Rauf Aregbesola was appointed Interim National Secretary of the ADC, and former President of the Nigerian Senate, David Mark, was appointed Interim National Chairman.
Onanuga described Aregbesola as a “renegade” and said, the former Osun State Governor “committed anti-party activities” in the last Election of the Southwestern State, and was “expelled” from the ‘Broom’ Party as an “unfit” member.
The Special Adviser advised Nigerians to “keep your eyes wide open”, and said, members of the political party are “united only by their hatred for President Tinubu”.
In his reaction to the “hijacked ADC”, Bayo Onanuga said on X: “Some members of the hijacked ADC, who were reported as members of the APC, left the APC years and months ago. Let the public not be deceived by the opposition’s narrative about their relevance or whether the APC will mourn their departure.
• Rotimi Amaechi’s soul left the APC in 2022 after losing the presidential primary to President Tinubu.
• 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.
• Hadi Sirika, now with the ADC, is facing trial for contract splitting and other allegations.
• The renegade Rauf Aregbesola committed anti-party activities 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. 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
“My advice to Nigerians: Keep your eyes wide open. A political party with no clear agenda or ideology—whose members are united only by their hatred for President Tinubu—cannot 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. They want power at all costs because they cannot endure another four years in the political wilderness or be banished to political winter and irrelevance.
“What is certain is that the group will soon unravel due to their irreconcilable personal ambitions.”
