The leaders of the coalition movement under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have begun their mobilisation drive in their regions.
LEADERSHIP Sunday checks revealed that the coalition leaders, namely, its interim national chairman, Senator David Mark, the national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, returned to their states, Benue and Osun to galvanise their bases.
It was further gathered that as part of measures to firm up their bases, the coalition leaders had been assigned the task of overseeing the platform’s outreach in their geo-political zones. According to a source, who is close to the operation, Atiku would be in charge of the North East zone; David Mark would head the North Central zone, while El-Rufai would head the North West zone.
In the southern geopolitical zone, Obi would lead the Southeast zone, while Aregbesola would head the South-South zone and the South-West zone.
A source confirmed that while the former Senate president is in Benue State for the wedding of his granddaughter, “he is likely going to engage with leaders and sympathisers of the movement across the zone.”
Aregbesola was greeted by his loyalists when he arrived in Lagos State shortly after the unveiling of the party in Abuja.
On his part, Atiku met with some ADC leaders from Gombe State in Abuja led by former minister and Senator Idris Abdullahi in Abuja, late Friday.
A source told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the party leaders “returned to touch base with their regions and set the stage for a proper engagement party with the people.”
“Nigerians are already mobilising. The crowd at the gathering was organic. That is what is happening in the state,” he said.
Confirming the mobilisation drive in the regions, the national public secretary of the ADC, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the leaders were given two weeks after which they will return to Abuja for another meeting.
He said, “Our members and leaders have returned to the regions to galvanise the people, mobilise them, and talk to the people.
“Our strengths are in the people, not in guns or thugs. The people are our strengths. After talking to them, they will return to Abuja in two weeks’ time.
“It is after that we will sit down, analyse their reports and other things will follow,” he said.
Other coalition leaders seen mobilising their bases in their states over the weekend were former minister of Police Affairs, Maina Waziri in Yobe State and former Imo Governor, Hon Emeka Ihedioha.
Can The Leaders Of The Coalition Deliver?
The unveiling of the ADC last Wednesday in Abuja as the coalition platform is reshaping Nigeria’s political space ahead of the 2027 general election.
ADC’s emergence has seemingly revived the opposition as former leading opposition parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party – are embroiled in protracted leadership crises.
The roll call at Wednesday’s event showed how intense the push to democratically remove President Bola Tinubu from office has become.
Prominent opposition politicians including ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi were at the unveiling of the party in Abuja.
The duo ended second and third respectively in the last presidential election which Tinubu won with minority votes.
Other key political figures at the venue include former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Dino Melaye, former Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung, publisher and PDP chieftain Dele Momodu, former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola Senator Ireti Kingibe of the Labour Party and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.
They hope to re-enact the 2013 opposition parties’ merger that birthed the APC through which it claimed power at the centre in 2015.
While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), FCT minister Nyesom Wike, Aviation minister Festus Keyamo, and former ADC presidential candidate Dumebi Kachikwu have dismissed the ADC as lacking the gravitas to unseat Tinubu, the party’s interim chairman, Senator David Mark, insists the party is bent on rescuing the country from the APC government.
LEADERSHIP Sunday had exclusively reported that the coalition leaders had been assigned the task of overseeing the platform’s expansion in their geo-political zones as part of measures to firm up their bases.
According to a source close to the operations, Atiku would be in charge of the North East zone, David Mark would head the North Central zone, while El-Rufai would head the North West zone.
In the southern geopolitical zone, Obi would lead the South East zone, Amaechi will head the South-South zone while Aregbesola would head the South West zone.
The source, however, said the postings would be subject to further work and authorisation.
Most of the leaders have since visited their states. Aregbesola was received by his supporters in Lagos on Friday enroute to his state, Osun. It was also learnt that Mark visited his home state of Benue shortly after the unveiling.
Nevertheless, questions are being asked about the coalition’s ability to give the APC a tough fight ahead of 2027. This is in spite of the national appeal and experience that key leaders of the coalition have.
While some analysts acknowledge the household names of the coalition leaders, their influence, especially in their home states and regions, will be put to the test going into the make or mar election.
Atiku
The former vice president is a household name not only in his state, but in Nigeria, having contested for the presidency longer than any other candidate in the political history of the country: he has had his eyes set on the top seat since 1993.
While he served as vice president from 1999 to 2003, he has contested for the presidency in almost every election cycle.
The presidential candidate of PDP in 1999 and 2023 has not been having it easy in his home state of Adamawa lately. It appears Atiku’s relationship with his state governor, Umar Fintiri, whose administration recently stripped the former vice president of prized title, Waziri, isn’t cordial anymore.
Curiously, the governor has not openly associated with Atiku since the coalition movement began. Instead, Fintiri’s predecessor, Jibrilla Bindow, has become more visible around Atiku, fueling insinuations of the former governor’s planned return to power in the state.
Atiku’s popularity beyond his region is notable. He was able to garner over six million votes from the north and south of the country in the 2023 election to take second place. But Tinubu, a first-time presidential contestant, won the election with over eight million votes.
Atiku’s capacity to mobilise votes in his state and North East for the ADC would be matched with the forces of the vice president Kashim Shettima who hails from the North East state of Borno, and the national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who heads the APC in Adamawa State.
David Mark
The retired Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army was the military governor of Niger State from 1984 to 1986. He was a senator for 20 years between 1999 and 2019. He was the longest-serving Senate President, presiding over the Senate for eight uninterrupted years between 2007 and 2015.
But Mark has struggled to win senatorial elections in the past which has led some to question his grassroots appeal in Benue State. But after serving for eight years presiding over the Senate, Mark voluntarily stepped aside as the representative of his senatorial district in his state.
However, he has vast experience and organisational ability (thanks to his military background), having managed to halt the banana peel incident, which saw Senate Presidents before him impeached or made to exit office precipitously.
But how he translates this experience to galvanising votes in his state and the region is another matter as his state is now being governed by the APC.
Aregbesola
The new national secretary of the ADC is Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State. He was also interior minister in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Although he served as governor for eight years, his battle with his immediate successor, now minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, resulted in his relegation in his former party, APC. Oyetola was Aregbesola’s chief of staff for eight years, but he was not his preferred candidate for the governorship position in the state.
However, his supporters, named Omoluabi Progressives, said their principal’s emergence as the interim national secretary of the ADC will boost their chances ahead of the governorship election in Osun State in 2026.
The supporters, in the early hours of Wednesday, thronged the premises of their office in the state, singing and dancing in celebration of their leader’s new appointment.
The chairman of Omoluabi Progressives, Alhaji Isaa Azeez, congratulated the people of Osun State in particular and Nigeria in general on Aregbesola’s new position, noting that their illustrious son has been found worthy of the frontline status.
So far, Aregbesola was a factor in the election that removed his estranged successor and now minister, Oyetola, from office.
Though an APC chieftain, the now ADC national secretary supported the incumbent, Senator Ademola Adeleke, a PDP candidate.
However, Adeleke has distanced himself from the coalition movement. Aregbesola’s task will perhaps be the toughest as he has to market the new party in a state and the South West region where President Tinubu comes from.
Amaechi
The former Rivers State governor and transportation minister has been vocal about the formation of the coalition. Amaechi, who came second to Tinubu in the 2023 APC presidential primary election, has since distanced himself from the APC.
However, in Rivers State, the former governor struggled for control of his former party even while serving as minister under the Buhari administration.
Amaechi’s successor in 2015 and current FCT minister Nyesom Wike had wrested the APC from the former minister’s control in state. Wike, as governor, ensured APC did not win votes in the state, causing Amaechi’s loyalists to defect.
However, Amaechi believes he can still muscle his way in the state. Having reunited with some PDP leaders in the state, it will be interesting to see how they perform in 2027.
Lamido
Lamido was a member of the Second Republic House of Representatives, the national secretary of the original Social Democratic Party, and governor of Jigawa State for eight years between 2007 and 2015.
A former foreign affairs minister, Lamido was once considered the king maker in Jigawa State. But since he left office in 2015, he has been struggling to retain the control of the state and his party, the PDP. This much was evident as he could neither win a senatorial election nor deliver his sons who were also seeking elective offices in the state.
An offshoot of the Aminu Kano political family, the PDP founding father, who was eclipsed by the Muhammadu Buhari movement in 2015, has yet to fully recover his political might in the North.
His plight was worsened by the corruption charges filed against him and his sons by the government through its anti-corruption agency, the EFCC.
He has however said he won’t resign his membership of the PDP even though he supports the ADC. Ahead of 2027, his political clout in Jigawa State and the North West region would be put to the test one more time.
El-Rufai
Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate-past Kaduna State governor, would have been a minister in the Tinubu administration which he now seeks to unseat after his ministerial nomination was stopped by the Senate.
The self-acclaimed Buhari boy and key figure in the coalition movement served as governor of Kaduna for eight years after serving as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
However, his rift with his successor, Senator Uba Sani, resulting in corruption allegations against him by the state government, has left El-Rufai in a battle to retain his footing in the state’s political sphere.
Not one to shy away from controversy which often makes him appear a divisive figure, the former director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprise- turned politician, has been in the forefront of campaigning for the coalition.
How much influence he can wield in the state ahead of 2027 will be an interesting prospect considering that he was unable to deliver his state, as governor, for the APC in 2023.
Peter Obi
The Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023 pulled off a wonder in the last election. His ability to rack up over six million votes about two years ago places him on a firmer pedestal. His 2023 candidacy had enabled hitherto struggling politicians to win governorship and federal and state assembly elections across the country.
His ability to win Lagos, Tinubu’s political base, was instructive, as he also made inroads in the middle belt states. He has a commanding presence in the South East zone and other regions of the South. He appeals heavily to the young and mobile demography across regions.
However, some believe that the November Anambra election will be a gauge on his popularity in the state and region.
Aminu Tambuwal
The former House of Representatives speaker and Sokoto State governor, now Senator, was not able to produce his successor in the state. In fact, he narrowly won his re-election as governor, which was a clear sign that he was losing the people’s support despite serving as chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum at the time.
A two-time presidential aspirant who lost twice to Atiku, it remains to be seen whether he can rebound in the state which has returned to APC control under his former ally and benefactor, Senator Aliyu Wammako.
Babangida Aliyu
The former Niger State governor was a larger than life figure when he held sway. He was chairman of the influential Northern States Governors’ Forum and a key voice in the PDP. However, just like Tambuwal, he was unable to deliver his state for the PDP after he left office. He has since maintained a rather low profile. Whether this new party will spur him to make a strong stand is to be seen in the coming weeks and months.
Oyegun
Many were surprised to see a former Edo State governor and former APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, in the coalition camp. Of course, since his exit as APC chairman, he has maintained a low profile. Known for his disciplined and less controversial approach to politics, the former permanent secretary is not known to be a key decider of election outcomes in his state. However, his vast experience cannot be ignored.
Other members of the coalition whose inputs or influence in their states and regions would be looked out for are former minister of Justice and attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami; former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal; former governor and deputy speaker, Hon Emeka Ihedioha; former foreign affairs minister, Tom Ikimi; and former PDP women leader and minister, Josephine Anenih among others.
Reactions
Meanwhile, Chibuike Amaechi has declared that the 2027 elections would not be the same as the previous elections, declaring that rigging and the use of thugs would not be allowed.
He contended it was wrong to assume that the leaders of the coalition are not popular in their home states, saying he was sure that a majority of the leaders would deliver their states.
“Who told you that we aren’t popular in our states? We were governors, senators elected by the people and we served them diligently. They are happy with us.
“Look, the next elections won’t be as they used to be. The elections are between the people and a few others and I’m sure that the people are ready for a genuine change. Just wait and see.
“We won’t tell you our strategies. How many Nigerians are happy with this government? How much are you earning and what can it buy? What about your family members? Are they happy?’’ he asked.
On its part, the ADC insisted that Nigerians would not judge the new leaders by their past, adding that what is ahead is beyond that.
The spokesman to the coalition and the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said both the APC and the Presidency would be shocked by the coalition’s gains.
‘‘We are focused. Let those entertaining the people continue with their garrulous words and actions. For us, we stay focused,’’ he added.
They can’t be trusted by Nigerians – Senator Girei
In his reaction, Senator Abubakar Girei said Nigerians won’t trust the coalition leaders.
Senator Girei, a chieftain of the APC, who represented Adamawa Central Senatorial District of Adamawa State from 1999 to 2003, said the coalition leaders have just fallen into a trap.
He added that they made a wrong choice by adopting the ADC as their platform.
He said, “Ask them why they abandoned the SDP, which was their preferred choice. They will soon realise that ADC has more aggressive vampires than those that chased them out of SDP.
“Taking a closer look at the coalition’s membership, it is obvious that they are groups of aggrieved people for different reasons; while some feel bad because President Tinubu did not patronise them, others are for personal reasons of wanting to be President by all means.
“Many of the individuals now standing at the forefront of this coalition for change are the same people who ruined Nigeria. These are not newcomers to politics. They are seasoned actors with decades of experience in manipulating the system, looting the treasury, and protecting the status quo. Why should Nigerians trust them to effect any positive change? You cannot be a part of those who destroyed a system, and now you want to claim you are a saint. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fixing the mess this set of people has caused,” Girei said.
APC should be careful, Moniedafe warns
When asked about the prospects of the new party and the capacity of its leaders, former chairman of the ACN in Abuja, Sunny Moniedafe, said the APC has to be careful with the emergence of the ADC.
The APC chieftain and former national chairmanship aspirant said, “I am still in the APC but want to warn my party officials to be very careful. Unless they have a different agenda, which is to rig, they will be out of the Villa come 2027.
“How can the APC be so confident when Nigerians are hungry, angry and suffering?
“I don’t know about the other two Northern Zones, but for the North East, there is an urgent need to have a change,” he said.
On his part, President of the Arewa Youths for the Sustenance of Democracy and Good Governance, Alhaji Saliu Magaji, said the APC will be making a major mistake to underrate the veteran politicians in the ADC.
He said, “In politics, you don’t underrate anybody—much more these respected politicians. They are strategists. APC will underrate them to its peril. You cannot dismiss people like David Mark, Sule Lamido, Peter Obi, Chibuike Amaechi, and others.
“Let’s not forget that some of the ADC leaders are founding fathers of the PDP. So they have a lot of experience. I have seen the APC dismissing them casually. I would advise the ruling party to get its act together and improve on its performance as it prepares for the tough election in 2027,” he said.
However, a former APC national chairmanship aspirant, Hon. Mohammed Saidu Etsu, believes the “grand coalition” would crumble.
He told LEADERSHIP Sunday that on paper, such a move may appear strategic, but on close examination of the players involved and the political terrain, “this coalition is weak, disjointed, and ultimately doomed to collapse like a house of cards.”
He added, “Let’s begin with some of the key figures in this coalition. Take former Governor Nasir El-Rufai, for example. His tenure in Kaduna State was marked by deep religious and ethnic polarisation, particularly with communities in Southern Kaduna who still feel marginalised and wounded by his policies. For someone seeking national support, these unresolved tensions are a major liability.
“Then there’s Rotimi Amaechi, the former Minister of Transportation. Since leaving office, he has largely disappeared from the political scene. In Rivers State, his home base, his political influence has significantly diminished, especially with the emergence of new power brokers such as the Honourable Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, who has filled the vacuum he left behind.
“Looking at Niger State, where I come from, the political situation is even clearer. The current governor has gained significant traction due to visible infrastructure development and youth empowerment initiatives. His popularity has consolidated support for the ruling party across the state. There is no credible opposition figure in sight who commands enough respect, loyalty, or structure to challenge the status quo.”
Beyond the individuals, he said the fundamental problem with the coalition is that it lacks ideological cohesion and national acceptability.
“Most of its members have divergent interests, personal ambitions, and unresolved past rivalries. Forming a coalition for the sake of defeating a sitting president without a unified vision or credible alternative policies is a recipe for failure.”
However, he said Tinubu’s administration might have its challenges, but that the president is firmly entrenched in party structure.
“He continues to command loyalty across key regions and has demonstrated political mastery in building alliances, managing party affairs, and navigating the complexities of Nigerian politics.
“On a final note, this so-called ‘grand coalition’ is not grand at all. It is a reactionary alliance built on fragile foundations, weak public appeal, and fading political capital. When the 2027 elections arrive, Nigerians will see it for what it truly is — an alliance of convenience with no real direction or ability to inspire nationwide change.”
But an aide to Atiku, Hon. Oladimeji Fabiyi, believes there are no pushovers in the coalition.
He said, “As far as I know, there is no pushover among the key members of the coalition. Their strength transcends their individual states.
“From Atiku to Peter Obi, to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to Rotimi Amaechi, Tambuwal, Aregbesola and the rest — they all have significant followership in their various states and have been part of governance at one time or another. This is a huge strength.
“In terms of weakness, I would say their individual abilities to manage crises in their states.
“Someone like Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President — no one can controvert his reach even beyond politics. His network transcends religion, gender, and regional sentiments. He has been on the presidential ballot three times and made a remarkable showing, except in 2007, when presidential results were allocated.
“He made a significant showing in 2019 and 2023, but for the manipulation of the sitting president coupled with the culpability of INEC and the judiciary.
“What this means is that Atiku’s strength cannot be overlooked — just as with other key members of the coalition,” he said.
(Leadership Newspaper)
