Former Kogi lawmaker Dino Melaye says, despite the bigwigs within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the party will work to present a candidate to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
Melaye made the remark during an appearance on Politics Today.
“Those of us in the ADC need to create a comfortable, stable platform. And I believe that platform will produce a candidate that will unseat President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in 2027.
“But I have made it a point of duty that I will not be talking about a presidential candidate or aspirant or preference for anybody until we get the party completely stabilised and organise a transparent convention that will produce a presidential candidate of the ADC who, by the grace of God, will kick,” he said.
On 2 July, an opposition coalition which had top political bigwigs—including Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, Rotimi Amaechi, and Melaye—endorsed the ADC as a unified platform to challenge the APC in the 2027 presidential election. The coalition aims to rally various political blocs under one umbrella to unseat the ruling party. However, critics and APC leaders, including former APC National Secretary Iyiola Omisore, have dismissed the coalition’s strength, citing potential internal rivalries and the intention to spearhead the highly coveted presidential ticket. Despite this, Melaye remains confident, describing the ADC as a “national altar call” for Nigerians who are driven by conscience and committed to real change.
He urged Nigerians to rethink the party’s role in national politics, noting that those who join the ADC are driven by conscience and a desire for change.
“Why Nigerians should think differently about the ADC is that once there’s an altar call in the church of God—only those who are emotionally affected, have conscience, and are ready to leave darkness and move into light respond. So, ADC is a national altar call. Not everybody in ADC is a saint, but what I’m telling you is that everybody who moved into ADC is concerned about Nigeria. We want to see a Nigeria where we’ll be able to answer questions from our grandchildren who will ask us, when we’re 90 and toothless: ‘When Nigeria was being destroyed, Grandpa, what did you do?’ We want to be able to say we did A, B, C, and D,” he said. In July, the founder of ADC, Ralph Nwosu, presented ADC membership cards to former Senate President David Mark and former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who were announced as interim national chairman and secretary of the coalition, respectively.