The spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, has submitted that the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, does not need the support of an opposition coalition to defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.
According to Abdullahi, the support of the coalition may make Atiku’s task of defeating Tinubu easier, but even without it, the former Vice President would still defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.
Naija News reports that he made the submission on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He said the party has what it takes to defeat Tinubu without the coalition’s support.
“We are going to win. We don’t need a coalition to win this election. The African Democratic Congress does not need a coalition to win this election.
“If we are able to build the kind of coalition that we started to build, maybe to make our job easier, but we don’t need that coalition. We don’t necessarily need the coalition to win the election,” Abdullahi said.
Asked directly if Atiku could single-handedly defeat Tinubu in the 2027 elections, Abdullahi gave a positive response.
“I believe so, and that’s our thinking, and that’s what we are working on,” he said.
The ADC spokesperson added that some Nigerians would vote against the Tinubu candidacy based on their unpalatable experiences under the current administration.
“The experience of Nigerians in the last three years has pushed people to the extent that they are saying that anybody but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he submitted.
Despite his position, Abdullahi said the ADC was still open to continued discussions with opposition parties ahead of the 2027 elections.
He, however, clarified that conversations were not primarily focused on producing a single presidential candidate.
“We are still having conversations among ourselves, opposition political parties, and there are different areas,” he said.
According to him, areas of possible collaboration may include election monitoring and protecting votes.
“The conversation is not about how do we produce a single presidential candidate. The conversations predominantly are about how… what areas of cooperation is possible.
“For example, if we are able to develop a common protocol for election monitoring and for policing our votes, that is major,” he said.
On the fuel subsidy debate, Abdulahi affirmed plans by Atiku to restore the policy and challenged the APC to a public debate on the policy.
“We have said we will bring subsidy back.
“I’m not an economist. You have your economists. We have our economists. We have our presidential candidate, and as a matter of fact, I’m the spokesperson of the ADC. Bring the spokesperson of the APC. Let us debate this subsidy issue because that is what Nigerians want to hear.”
