The African Democratic Congress, (ADC) Nigeria’s new opposition coalition, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for standing on the side of democracy consequent upon Wednesday’s official recognition of the Senator David Mark-led executive of the party, stating that this development would bolster the confidence of its members across the country and encourage those who had been sitting on the fence to come in.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that INEC) officially acknowledged former senate president David Mark as the new National Chairman of the ADC, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the National Secretary, and Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor as National Legal Adviser.
Expressing the excitement of party faithful at this development on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, Wednesday night, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s spokesperson and former minister, admitted that prior to INEC’s publication on its website, “so many people have been apprehensive because they don’t know what was going to happen”.
Blaming this on Nigeria’s lack of faith in public institutions, Abdullahi said “You see, the Integrity of our public institution is at stake, and I think you mentioned it earlier. A lot of our institutions, public institutions, have credibility problem, so, even when they are purely administrative issues, people begin to suspect some conspiracy. So, the longer it took for us to tidy this up, the more people began to think that INEC was pandering to some interests other than what they were constitutionally mandated to do”.
According to him, “Now that it has been done, and like we said, we were very clear that it was purely administrative. Now, we can go ahead, our members across the country have been excited. Those who were holding back, waiting for this to happen now, have seen they can now come in so we can move forward more deliberately in the task of building our party”.
Speaking further on the implication of crossing the INEC hurdle in terms of having a substantive executive, Abdullahi, a former chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) said the party can now embark on a systematic registration of members because “It now means that the chairman can now sign membership cards, the secretary can now sign membership cards, then we can begin to roll out”.
On the party’s current membership strength, the ADC spokesperson said he would not be able to say for now.
He said “The one I know is that in every ward in this country today, there is an ADC meeting happening.
“And I can tell you that the last time I was back in Ilorin, I attended my ward meeting. When I signed my name on the register, I was number 73 – a ward meeting. That has never happened all these years.
“So, what I’m saying is that people are excited, and that’s the direction we want to go. …Then maybe at the end of the year or so, we can tell you that this is how many numbers of people we have registered in our party”.
Positing that what within two months the DAC had been able to open up the political space such that Nigerians feel they have option, Abdullahi said the goal of the party is to build a mass political party that is able to mobilise people across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
Commenting on lack of political structure like having no governors, federal and state lawmakers and local government chairmen that could facilitate election victory, Abdullahi dismissed it as inconsequential.
He said, “Let me tell you something. The most important mission of the ADC is to build a real political party. A real political party that stands for something, that believes in something. And this is the message we are going to push to Nigerians. The most important thing is for us to give Nigerians alternative.
“We want Nigerians to get to 2027 and ask themselves, has this ruling party improved our lives or made our lives worse, and decide whether they want to continue with this ruling party, or they want a change.
“So, we want the situation when people want a change, they can look back and see our party as a viable alternative. So, this has nothing to do… Most of these governors you mentioned, I saw a video yesterday of a state Governor that went to a village in his state, and he was met with people saying we don’t want you, and they started chanting ADC, ADC.
“What we are trying to do has probably not been done in a long time. In 2014, 2015, you had a merger of political parties. I think it’s actually unprecedented. But now, we have a merger of individuals and ADC is one party that we’re trying to build on the principle of egalitarianism, equal membership.
“So, you will see that when every member feels empowered in their respective position to provide leadership, whether at zonal levels, or at state level, or at ward level, then you begin to see that everybody is committed to delivering the objective of the party”.
On the blocking of the resumption of suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the National Assembly, the ADC spokesman insisted there was no reason she should be prevented unless there was more to it that Nigerians do not know.
Abdullahi said, “We feel this is wrong and we’ve not commented on this saga since it started. But at this point, we felt that it goes beyond partisan politics.
“Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is not a member of our party, but this has implication for our democracy. I think saying that she could not be admitted because there’s a pending court case is being dubious in the sense that it was not a court that sent her on suspension; It’s the National Assembly that sent her on a six months’ suspension.
“That has no bearing on the subsequent court cases, or the court case that they are referring to. She has been sent on suspension for six months; she has served her suspension. There is no reason why she should not be admitted into the National Assembly at the expiry of those six months unless the National Assembly wants to give us the impression that there are other issues that they are not telling Nigerians.
“And we feel particularly concerned because the voice of Natasha Akpoti is the voice of her people, and when you deny her admission into the National Assembly, what it means is that you are also denying her people representation. That is one.
Two, we also note that Natasha Akpoti is only one of four women in the in the Senate. Out of 109 senators, only four are women. That’s a very poor representation of women in the senate. That’s 2.7 percent of the senate representation for women. That’s one of the worst records in the world.
“So, when you go on, excessively punishing one of these few women, you are also creating a condition where it could potentially discourage women from coming forward to contest election.
“So, we believe it is wrong, and it is on this basis that we are saying that the Senate must change gear and allow the Senator to resume her position”.
