•Jonathan, ADC logo and Tinubu
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has cautioned the Tinubu administration against clamping down on opposition parties, stating that the president himself benefited from a democratic environment under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The party said recent actions by appointees of the federal government suggest a deliberate attempt to weaken the growing opposition movement, which it described as a threat to Nigeria’s multiparty democracy, reports Daily Trust.
The party called on President Bola Tinubu to demonstrate statesmanship by curbing the excesses of his aides and show respect for pluralism.
“The president needs to prove that he is truly a democrat. He must remind his men that if the Goodluck Jonathan administration had behaved this way, the APC would never have come to power in 2015, and he would not be president today”, it noted.
In a statement issued today, ADC Interim National Publicity Secretary and National Coalition Spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, alleged that former state chairmen and key executive members of the party from the North East and North West zones were invited to a secret meeting with top federal officials.
“We have credible intelligence that this meeting is not for national security or peacebuilding,” the statement said.
“Its goal is to intimidate, coerce, and possibly recruit these individuals into a scheme aimed at undermining the opposition. This is not politics. This is sabotage.”
The party said the motive is to create division within its ranks, delegitimise its new leadership, and derail its emergence as a credible alternative to the ruling party.
It added that attempts to woo or pressure party officials in the name of political engagement are nothing short of a “coordinated assault on Nigeria’s democracy.”
“This is how one-party states are born, through fear, coercion, and manipulation,” Abdullahi said.
He linked the development to the recent unveiling of the ADC-led opposition coalition, which he said has rattled the ruling party.
“It is now obvious that the Tinubu administration, having lost public trust, is unable to face a united and credible opposition. Instead of addressing the country’s challenges, it has returned to the old playbook of destabilising rivals,” the statement noted.
The ADC warned that the ruling party’s tactics were pushing Nigeria toward dangerous political terrain, and vowed to resist what it called a “desperate bid to silence opposition voices.”
“This party belongs to every Nigerian who is tired of the lies, the hardship, and the manipulation. We will not allow a few desperate men to take the country backward. We will resist them through every democratic means available,” it said.
