The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being intolerant towards opposition parties.
Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, made the accusation following President Tinubu’s statement at the APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
Tinubu, in his address, had described the opposition coalition of political parties led by the ADC as nothing but a “coalition of confusion”.
The president also appeared to have taken a swipe at the ADC, which has recently enjoyed the support of prominent opposition politicians such as Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and Peter Obi, Labour Party chieftain.
“It is not a bad idea to abandon a sinking ship and be absent from a coalition of confusion,” Tinubu said, a statement widely viewed by many as an effort to discredit opposition unity and encourage more defections from other political parties to the APC.
Reacting, Abdullahi said Tinubu’s comments showed the ruling party’s unease with the coalition’s rising political momentum, saying that the APC appears unsettled by the ADC’s growing influence.
“What exactly is there to address? How can the president of a democratic country speak of the opposition in such a way? It says a lot,” Abdullahi said, adding that the APC’s rhetoric reflected an inability to tolerate genuine opposition.
“This kind of language shows the APC’s clear intolerance for any opposition. They are unsettled, even angry, about the ADC’s rise, a party determined to stop their mission of turning Nigeria into a one-party state,” he said.
According to him, the APC had become accustomed to operating unchallenged, taking advantage of a previously weak opposition, referring to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
