G100 Meeting: ADC Needs No Coalition To Defeat Tinubu

Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, ADC  has downplayed the ongoing criticism against the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar over his absence from Monday’s G100 opposition summit in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Abubakar was not the only presidential candidate who was absent at the meeting. Others such as Peter Obi of the NDC, Governor Seyi Makinde of the APM, did not also attend, they only sent representatives to the meeting.

According to the ADC spokesperson, Abubakar did not have to attend the meeting personally after the party has sent its top leaders, including four vice chairmen to the event, saying however that its flag-bearer will be available in the future for such meetings of the opposition in the country.

The magazine reports that tongues have been wagging against the ADC presidential hopeful  after he was conspicuously absent at the meeting called by opposition political parties in the country to forge a united front against the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC ahead the 2027 election.

One of the plans of the opposition parties for calling the meeting, according to sources, was how work out modalities to present one presidential candidate against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate and incumbent.

The magazine, however, learned that the former vice president got wind of the plan, and decided to stay away from the meeting.

Reacting, Abdullahi said  the summit is more about conversation between political parties, rather than conversation among candidates, insisting that it was not compulsory for the ADC presidential candidate to attend in person, adding that they party sent enough representatives to the meeting in Abuja.

“It’s more about exploring cooperation opportunities among political parties. So, it’s not consequential that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was not present,” Abdullahi stated.

“I was there, the party was highly represented—we had like four Vice Chairmen there at the G100 Summit. So, ADC was fully represented, and we participated in the process.”

He explaiend that the ADC can defeat the incumbent without necessarily forming an alliance with other aprties, saying any such cooperation is welcome and will make the “job’ of defeating President Tinubu “easier”.

“We in the African Democratic Congress, we are happy to have this conversation, but everything we are doing is not dependent on whether we are able to produce a single presidential candidate.

“We are saying that on our own, as the ADC, we can defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027. But if we are able to negotiate this cooperation, then it makes the job easier,” the ADC spokesperson affirmed.