The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticized the claim by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that “key ADC figures” would be received into the ruling party next week.
The ADC condemned the statement as more evidence of a ruling party increasingly trying to buy legitimacy through defections.
Over the weekend, APC national leader Professor Nentawe Yilwatda branded the ruling party as the new bride, revealing that numerous notable ADC members will join the ruling party next week.
He made this statement in response to a recent influx of new members from opposition parties.
Peter Mbah, the Governor of Enugu State, recently joined the party, and Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State is expected to formalize his defection soon.
During a meeting with APC stakeholders in Jos, Plateau State, Yilwatda stated, “Next week, I will be receiving some notable figures from the ADC. Some of those who had earlier defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ADC are now returning to the APC.”
The APC chairman also stated that many of the new members “have completed their medicals” and would be publicly introduced next week.
However, in a statement issued on Sunday through its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC said the announcement simply showed APC’s deep realization that it cannot be salvaged despite governors’ defections.
“This statement underscores a deep realization by the ruling party that it cannot be saved even if all the governors in Nigeria defected to the ruling party,” the statement read.
“This is why, even with all the governors and senators they have been bragging about, the APC is still desperate for ADC members.
“The truth remains that the APC realizes that it has become the most hated party in Nigeria, and no amount of defections can save the party from Nigerians whose lives and livelihoods the ruling party has destroyed since it came to power.”
ADC stated that the defections would not erase the public anger over the alleged destruction of livelihoods since the APC came to power.
“Like we have noted earlier, the recent gale of high-profile defections to the ruling party is properly understood by ordinary Nigerians as a gang-up against the people by a ruling elite who have left the people behind in abject poverty and are only interested in self-preservation even as their people wallow in misery.”
The coalition questioned why the ruling party would make shadowy references to unnamed members and challenged it to name the alleged “key” figures.
“We wonder if the APC has run out of governors to seduce, now that it has turned to shadowy references to unnamed ADC members?
“If these individuals are so ‘key,’ let the chairman of the hated party mention their names.
“There is nothing new in the game that the APC is playing. It is the same ruinous game that the PDP played at the height of its powers.”
The party emphasized its determination to be a credible opposition force ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The APC will also learn the bitter lesson that real democratic power lies with the people and not a few power merchants,” it stated.
