Bolaji Abdullahi is the spokesperson of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview, he spoke on the issues around defection of members of the opposition parties to the All Progressives Congress (APC), why the coalition party is there to frustrate plans to turn the country into one party state, among others. INIOBONG IWOK brings excerpts:
Some Nigerians are actually worried that the energy is waning or that the fire is burning out in the ADC. They don’t see the vibes again. Is it as a result of any form of intimidation?
What vibes were you seeing before that you are not seeing now?
When the ADC was announced as the coalition party people were so excited. But at the moment, not much is heard about it…?
No. You’re already getting it wrong. There’s time for everything. When we announced our party, Nigerians were excited to see that there is an alternative. But you don’t build a political party that will win elections by making public appearances and those kinds of rallies alone. You need to go down and build your structures across the country, in the villages, in the wards, in the polling units and all that. I just came back from Kwara State today, where we will build our party on Saturday. So, this is the real work that needs to be done. The difference is like comparing the work of a firefighter with the work of a builder. When a firefighter is out working, the noise will be all over the place. People will know that. But when they are gone, and the builders come in to remove the debris and start building, nobody will notice that they are working. So, I mean, when you need to build a party, it goes beyond just making press statements and making announcements and all that. But despite that, you will agree with me that we are still the only opposition party that continues to bring issues forward and continues to comment on issues. I can’t remember the last time you heard anything from any opposition party. And I must thank your newspapers, for reporting us well. We are on the right track. There is nothing wrong at all. I mean, the election is due in 2027.
Maybe, Nigerians wanted to see the fire burning the way you started and probably see APC disappear almost immediately…?
No, it doesn’t work that way. If you go back to when APC was formed, the government at the time, despite the fact that APC had how many governors, six or seven, you could see that everything did not unfold towards the end of 2014. That’s when you see real momentum. You understand what I’m saying? Not in 2012 or 2013. It was 2014 that you see real momentum. So, you’ll see that happen. We’ve done the initial one, which is to say, this is ADC. And you will agree with me that where ADC is today is not where ADC was. The ADC you have today is not the ADC you had last year. Now, it’s a completely different party. So, we’re not worried at all. We’re on course with the plan that we have.
The defection in PDP is giving more strength to the APC. Since most of the state governors are now members of the ruling party that is going to have an adverse effect on your party; don’t you think this is going to affect you as you plan to take over?
What percentage of Nigerians belong to any political party? Maybe less than 1%. Now, I mean card carrying members of political parties. So, for us, it’s like saying that because a governor defected to a ruling party, then that means that state is already won by the ruling party. Many of these governors are unpopular in their own states. Many of them have failed their own people. They have collected more money in the last two years than any governor in the history of the states have collected. How has that impacted on the life and livelihood of the people? So, they’re the same, and the reason they’re actually joining the ruling party is to protect themselves. They know they’re unpopular. They know they’re unpopular with their people. So, they need to protect themselves, and that’s why they’re moving to the ruling party. We’re not bothered at all because we know the people understand what is going on, the people are with us. So, a governor joining the ruling party doesn’t mean that the whole of the people in that state have now joined that party. So, if that is good for us, let all of them join the ruling party. Let all of them join the ruling party, where we know that it’s a two-horse race between the people of Nigeria and the ruling party. So, we are not worried at all.
But there’s also this issue that your party has just suspended Usani Uguru, the South-South Vice Chairman, and people are asking if it’s not too early?
Our party did not suspend anybody. Whoever took that decision, we have said it very clearly, they don’t have the power to do so. But don’t forget this is politics. I mean, we don’t forget this is politics we are playing, and there will be power struggles. So, we are not building a church or a mosque. So, it’s a political party we are building. So, there will be issues like that. But what we have made very clear is that whoever did it in the state doesn’t have the power to suspend the National official of the party from the party. They don’t have the power. And we have made it very clear to them. So, it’s not an issue.
I also want to know, is Peter Obi still with ADC? We don’t hear much about him working with the ADC. Is he still with you?
Peter Obi has not told us anything different from what he has always said, which is that he is with us.
Because we don’t see him much again with you guys.
When was the last time we held an event that you think Peter should be there and he was not there?
Peter has not told us anything different from what he has always told us that he is part of the coalition. And I have repeatedly maintained that he never announced that he was going to leave to finish with the outstanding election of the respective parties. So, there is nothing that has changed about the status of Peter in relation to the coalition. Nothing has changed.
I want to know your thoughts concerning what the new INEC chairman, Amupitan has promised to do. He had promised that under his leadership, in an election, a loser is going to congratulate the winner. So, does that give you a sense of confidence?
We have heard his promises. That’s just what they are. They are promises. So, we are watching and waiting. It will not give you any confidence other than the fact that he has made promises. And we will wait to see whether he will keep those promises. I also want to know your thoughts on what happened with the allegation that the security operatives shot at the protesters using live ammunition.
Is that correct? Did you see any casualties?
Maybe they shot at the air but what Sowore came out to say was that they shot at them and despised them. We, as a political party, cannot comment on anything we don’t have evidence. We have not seen any way that live ammunition was used against protesters. So, if it was true that live ammunition is dangerous and it’s condemnable to us. In a democracy, nobody would be allowed to be hurt because they are expressing themselves. So, democracy is about the right to express yourself and the right to associate and the right to protest. So, if it now carries capital punishment, then that’s no longer democracy. I hope it’s not true.
As it stands now, we see a lot of things playing out. The ruling party is still gaining more members. And it’s worrisome. What do you think Nigerians should look forward to?
The ruling party is gaining more members; I told you when you asked me this question earlier. You are talking about political elite ganging up against Nigeria. You are talking about governors joining the ruling party. They’re joining the ruling party to protect themselves.
Not only governors, even lawmakers…
Whether it’s governors or lawmakers or whatever, some of these people don’t they have to win elections? Are they going to deny the reality that their people are living in? Are they going to tell the people that they’re not hungry? That government solved their problems? Are they able to tell the people that life is better for them today than it was three years ago? So, if they’re joining the ruling party, they know why they are doing so. And it’s not about their people. It’s not to protect the interest of their people. It’s to protect their selfish interest. And the people can see it. We’re not worried at all about this movement. When the time comes, we’ll see what will happen.
The issue now is that people are concerned that Nigeria is turning into one party state. And when that happens, some people even say that it is beyond 2031?
We’ve been worrying about this from day one; that the Tinubu government’s plan is to reduce Nigeria to a one-party state. We are at ADC in the opposition coalition, this is why we came together in the first place. It’s the tendency by the government to reduce Nigeria to a one-party state. Was it not for the coalition, what do you think would have happened to Nigeria’s democracy today? PDP is more or less dead. Labour Party has been destabilised. The only opposition party in Nigeria today that you can call the opposition party is the ADC. But that justifies what we’re saying when we say that the coalition is here to rescue Nigeria from this modern civilian dictatorship and the tendency to turn Nigeria to a one-party state. So, I would have been vindicated. What you see about the decamping of the governor to the ruling party is part of that larger objective. But Nigerians have a choice. Nigeria will have to decide whether they want to keep this government or they want them to go. And we are able to provide that alternative. And that’s why ADC exists. So, it doesn’t matter whether the governor or the ruling party is a continuation of the same gang up. So, we’re not worried at all. Of course, like you rightly noted, we are concerned. We’re concerned that for the first time we’re experiencing something we’ve never imagined could happen in this country.
But don’t forget, at the height of its power, was PDP not the same way, not doing the same thing? Didn’t we see a situation where almost every member of the political elite was joining the PDP? Have we forgotten that at one point in 20 years or so, the national chairman of PDP declared that PDP will rule for 60 years because they were controlling almost all the states? So, where is PDP today? So, if APC has not learned from history, you’ll see what will happen to them.
