According to the World Bank, despite recent economic reforms that have boosted government revenues, about 139 million Nigerians are still living in poverty. This is about 70 per cent of the population of about 200 million people. Nigerians today are groaning as cooking gas price hits N1, 300/kg. A woman was seen crying because the cooking gas she used to buy for N12,000.00 was sold at N24,000.00. The poor woman will resort to fossil fuel/firewood to cook. Kwara State, which used to be one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria, is now under the invasion of terrorists and bandits that require the presence of battalions of troops to overcome. These events happened this week alone. Such malaise is now a daily occurrence throughout Nigeria. Last week witnessed the murder of Sommie Maduagwu, Arise TV news reporter, and Dr Ifeanyi Ogbu, a first class graduate of Veterinary Medicine from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Week after week, Nigerians are dying from hunger and hardship under the incompetent APC, stressing the urgency of rescue for the innocent hapless citizens. The question is who can come to the rescue?
The 2023 presidential election has come and gone. People believed that their votes did not count because the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had become very unpopular, was declared the winner of the presidential election, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Unfortunately, the conditions as at 2023 have become paradise, compared with what Nigerians are experiencing today. Nigerians are eager for an alternative. However, it must not be an alternative that would be worse than what they are experiencing under APC for the past ten years.
There were three major political parties that contested for the 2023 presidential election. The APC, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Labour Party (LP). APC survived all the stress of the 2023 presidential election because it has access to the resources and security apparatus of the state. Tinubu used this apparatus to become the one and only leader of APC and Nigeria. With the National Assembly in his pocket, he enjoys absolute power. Of course, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nigeria, undoubtedly, is yearning for change. APC is incapable of bringing the change. No positive change can come from a person who has no respect for the laws of the land, and who enjoys absolute power. According to Aristotle, “it is a bad thing for any human being, subject to all possible disorders and affections of the human mind, to be the sovereign authority, which ought to be reserved for the law itself.” It’s really a bad thing for Tinubu, with all the possible disorders of his body and mind to have absolute authority over Nigeria, which should be the exclusive reserve of the law.
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The alternatives to APC would have been the PDP or LP. Unfortunately, these two parties are dead. The PDP has been described by Ayo Fayose, former two-term Governor of Ekiti State under PDP, to be a carcass, meaning, the dead body of an animal, a corpse. The party finds it difficult to even conduct a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting. Even to summon a meeting is becoming increasingly difficult because the National Chairman and National Secretary could not agree as to who should issue the notice of meeting. The unproclaimed leader of the PDP, Nyesom Wike, is a Minister in APC’s government. He vowed to support the re-election of Tinubu in the 2027 election. He also cajoled his party to zone the presidential ticket to the South, which is a euphemism to zoning it to Tinubu. Consequently, he rejected the idea of micro zoning it to any geo-political zone in the South. It’s obvious that he would not want the PDP to mount a serious challenge to his candidate – Tinubu. He will either scuttle the possibility of the PDP producing any candidate at all or producing a strong competitive candidate to Tinubu.
The LP has no structures anywhere in Nigeria. The incompetent leaders of LP neglected, failed, or refused to organise congresses and conventions known to law at all levels of the leadership cadre of the party. This made their leadership to elapse through effluxion of time, rendering them without leadership. INEC de-recognised the leadership and the Supreme Court nullified their purported convention that produced Julius Abure as National Chairman. The Caretaker Committee, appointed by LP, seems to be having recognition problems with INEC. As things are presently, LP has no recognised leadership. The candidates it submitted for all the by-elections were rejected. This makes the LP principally a non-active participant for the 2027 election.
Some seasoned opposition politicians saw these coming and went into negotiations among themselves, which resulted in their adoption of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as their preferred political party. The party’s new leadership under His Excellency David Mark was unveiled on the 2nd of July, 2025 at the Yar’Adua Centre. This was followed by a NEC meeting of the party on 29th July, 2025, with the INEC monitoring the proceedings in which the new executive was adopted by the NEC as the new leaders of the party thereby fulfilling the requirements of the law for the new party’s executive to be recognised. However, it was not until September 10, 2025 that INEC officially published the names of the new members of the National Working Committee of the ADC, marking the end of every scepticism that APC has used its muscles to suffocate the recognition of the executive by INEC.
The new executive held its inaugural meeting on October 7, 2025 under the chairmanship of David Mark. The meeting was scheduled to start by 10am prompt. At that time on the dot, the national anthem blazed, indicating the commencement of the meeting, and that it will not be business as usual. Discipline is one of the five pillars of the new executive. The other four include character, competence, courage, and integrity. The party is not unaware that the albatross of all the existing parties have been indiscipline. This indiscipline contributed in killing the chances of the opposition regaining power in 2023. Five Governors of the PDP worked for the ruling APC and the LP. At the end of the day, the opposition shared their votes and the INEC capitalised on this division to declare the APC the winner of the election through technical glitch. The solution to this indiscipline, according to the National Chairman, is to build a party that’s bigger than any personality. In his own words, “We begin with a conviction that Nigeria can, and will, work for everyone, and with a commitment to building a party bigger than any personality, stronger than any moment, and positively different from any party in the annals of our country.”
The party chairman made it clear that ADC will do things differently based on its five pillars. Hear David Mark, “What makes the ADC different is simple: We will be a party of purpose and determination, not impulses – an institution that champions democratic values and a culture of accountability and responsibility across its organs and in every government it forms. Our leadership standard is non-negotiable: Character. Competence. Courage. Discipline, and integrity. These five pillars will guide our choices, shape our culture, and anchor our performance.”
He was not in any illusion that this would be easy, especially as APC is full of democracy assassins. He, therefore, enjoined the members to make sacrifices for the success of the party in its quest to serve Nigerians better. Mark declared that “The conveners of this mission are respected leaders from every corner of our nation who have freely chosen service over comfort. We have set aside narrow interests for the common good. The road will be uphill. Sacrifice will be demanded. Those threatened by democracy will resist it. Still, we advance – calmly, courageously, together as a formidable team.”
He was however comforted that with the commensurate right attitude of sacrifice from the members, Nigeria will become a changed nation in a very short while that caters for the security and welfare of the people, not just the powerful. In his words, “We are a Pan-African, people-oriented, problem-solving movement-sensitive to the needs of the poor and the young, women and men, persons with disabilities, workers, peasants, entrepreneurs, retirees, civil society, and the vulnerable. We will convert empathy into policy, and policy into results.”
There’s no doubt that ADC is poised to do things differently. However, Nigerians have been promised a lot in the past and ended up being disappointed. The party must start practising what it is preaching for the whole world to see. It must ensure internal democracy, engage competent hands to man its activities, harness our diversity through inclusivity without discrimination as to ethnicity, religion, sex, and political opinions. Encourage innovation, discourage indiscipline and corruption in its midst, and observe the rule of law in all its activities. Unity of purpose must be emphasised and division of any kind must be avoided. Nigerians are waiting for rescuers, but they will not be carried away by empty slogans. They will also be ready to defend their votes if the party takes a lead in such adventure. There’s no doubt that ADC is the only viable opposition party today with a promise to rescue Nigeria, but this can only be possible if it lives up to the true meaning of Article 3 of its Constitution, which incidentally is its motto – “In pursuit of the welfare of our people and the Nation.”
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