By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Nigeria’s nascent opposition Coalition platform, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Sunday August 17, 2025, strongly condemned Saturday’s bye-elections across the country. It dismissed the exercise as a shambolic , greatly tainted by intimidation and corruption.
A statement from its National spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, insisted that the outcomes of the polls across States, did not represent the actual will of the people and the strengths of ADC as a Coalition platform.
The Source reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Saturday August,16, 2025, conducted by-elections and re-run polls in 12 states of the country to fill several vacancies created at the States and National Assemblies on accounts of deaths and resignations.
Instructively, as the results trickled in on Sunday from across the election collation centres, the ADC Coalition being promoted by an array of political juggernauts, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, its National Chairman former Senate President David Mark , National Secretary and former Governor of Osun state Rauf Aregbesola, Peter Obi,the Labour Party LP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections , former Governors of Rivers and Kaduna states, Rotimi Amaechi and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, among others,did not record a single victory.
However, in its statement, the ADC alleged that the elections were heavily manipulated, compromised and marred by massive incidents of violence, vote-buying and outright intimidation .
The party said that the exercise, if anything. has once again signposted how far Nigeria’s system has been corrupted against the will of the people.
According to the ADC , even though it did not field candidates in most of the affected areas, it however regretted that the polls , represent “a sad reminder of the fact the the country’s democracy itself, just like the economy and national security, has continued to witness serious decline under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The ADC alleged that most of the polling units across the affected Constituencies were like war zones during the election, and alleged that in some States, over 300 thugs armed with sophisticated riffles ,knives , cutlasses and other dangerous weapons were unleashed on the opposition.
This is as the party cited several incidents of vote-buying , including the infamous arrest made in Kaduna as part of the variables that marred the elections, and prevented the votes of the people from counting, where they were even allowed to vote at all.
“This is fast becoming part our political culture and electoral process under the APC. The failure of the BVAS once again raises fresh questions about the Independent National Electoral Commission’s competence , sincerity and perhaps complicity”, the party stated .
The ADC expressed serious concern that the ugly events witnessed during the by-elections are a a dress rehearsal of the wide plans by the APC towards ensuring that the will of the people does not count in 2027.
The party, therefore, urged the President to urgently put machineries in place to investigate allegations of brazen and reckless irregularities during the elections with a view to restoring people’s confidence in the system.
“If INEC cannot guarantee the integrity of a by-election, then Nigerians are to question its institutional capacity and all-round readiness for a general election”, the ADC noted.
