Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has declared that Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate, will defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election without relying on a coalition of opposition parties.
Abdullahi said the ADC was confident of victory during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, insisting that although a broader opposition alliance could make the contest easier, it was not essential to defeating the incumbent.
“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,” Abdullahi said.
“If we can 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,” he added.
Asked specifically whether Atiku could defeat Tinubu single-handedly, the ADC spokesman replied, “I believe so, and that’s our thinking, and that’s what we are working on.”
Abdullahi said the party was banking on support from voters across the country, arguing that the economic and social experiences of Nigerians under the Tinubu administration would influence their choices at the polls.
Atiku, Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, Rotimi Amaechi, David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola were among opposition figures who initially rallied around the ADC as a platform for challenging Tinubu.
However, the alliance suffered setbacks after disagreements within the opposition camp, with Obi and Kwankwaso subsequently leaving the ADC for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Despite the setbacks, Abdullahi said the ADC remained open to cooperation with other opposition parties, stressing that discussions were now focused less on producing a single presidential candidate and more on areas that could strengthen the opposition’s electoral chances.
“We are still having conversations among ourselves, opposition political parties, and there are different areas. 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 party’s proposal to restore fuel subsidy if elected, Abdullahi challenged the APC to a public debate, insisting that Nigerians deserved to hear both sides of the argument.
“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,” Abdullahi added.
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