The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the African Democratic Congress on Thursday engaged in a war of words after the ADC blamed President Bola Tinubu for the current hardships facing Nigerians.
Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja, Wike dismissed the 2027 political coalition, arguing that only the Peoples Democratic Party can defeat the incumbent President, while insisting that Nigerians are not considering the ADC.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s National Working Committee, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Thursday, clarified that the party has not issued any official position on the coalition.
Additionally, the ADC’s 2023 presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, alleged that the faction of the party led by former Senate President David Mark was intentionally designed to make former Vice President Atiku Abubakar the party’s presidential candidate in 2027.
He vowed to challenge the new leaders in court to reclaim the party.
In response to the FCT minister’s attack, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement on Thursday that Wike is unsettled because the emerging coalition poses a significant threat to the administration he represents.
Abdullahi maintained that the ADC-led coalition belongs to the Nigerian people.
On Wednesday, a coterie of politicians unveiled the ADC as the coalition platform to oust Tinubu in 2027 following his alleged failure to improve the lot of Nigerians.
Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and other prominent politicians attended the unveiling of the ADC.
Though most of these figures have not formally joined the ADC, they publicly declared their support for the party, which is now led by an interim leadership team headed by David Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary, following the resignation of Ralph Nwosu and his team.
Commenting on the coalition, Wike criticised the opposition leaders, urging them to stop exploiting Nigerians.
The minister also dismissed claims that Nigerians were angry, pointing out that many members of the coalition were once in power but failed to improve the lives of the people during their time in office.
He said, “I heard David Mark say, to rescue Nigeria, Nigerians are angry. David Mark was Senate President for how many terms? Two terms, is it not? Nigerians were happy? Nigerians were happy when he was Senate President for eight years? And there was no single project to Otukpo; not one. He was flying in a helicopter to go to Otukpo. Nigerians were not angry then, but Nigerians are only angry now.
“When Rotimi Amaechi was minister for eight years, Nigerians were not angry. When Nigeria became indebted, Chinese loans, Nigerians were happy. It’s now that Nigerians are angry. I saw Seriake (Dickson). They are saying Nigerians are angry. They want to rescue Nigeria. So, I’m asking this simple question. What happened to Air Nigeria? Nigerians were happy then.
“When they went to APC in 2015 and took over the reins of power in 2023, Nigerians were happy. Was it under Tinubu’s government that banditry came? Tambuwal, you were the speaker for four years. What did you do to make Nigerians not angry? You were a governor in Sokoto State,” he said.
Wike added that he would only agree that Nigerians are angry if such claims came from individuals who never held public office.
He emphasised that Tinubu was actively working to improve the nation’s condition.
The former Rivers state governor noted, “When you want to go to power, tell us. If there are people who have not been in power in this country, who are coming up with such an idea, I can listen to them.
“But not people who were the ones at the helm of affairs of this country for how many years? Look at where this country is. If this President had not taken certain decisions, which may be very challenging, you would have known where we would have been by now.
“A President came and said it’s a scam; took that bold step, we will not allow that. States are getting more money. Nigerians are angry that states are getting more money. Nigerians are angry that we are providing infrastructure in Abuja. I cannot say that there are no challenges. There are challenges. But for Christ’s sake, stop using Nigerians.”
The minister reasoned that only the PDP could challenge Tinubu in 2027 if they got their acts together, stating, however, that the opposition has succeeded in decimating itself.
“The opposition has even decimated itself. Let me tell you why I said so, now you are talking about a coalition. What is the coalition? The only party today that, if they put themselves well, can still challenge this government, assuming, is PDP,” Wike added.
Coalition reacts
The ADC Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said if Wike’s government had kept its promises, the coalition wouldn’t have been necessary, nor would he be so uneasy.
The former sports minister stated, “The ADC has taken note of the virulent attacks launched on the various leaders of the coalition movement by the Hon. Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, in his media chat today.
“Without justifying this behaviour that we find incompatible with the office of a Federal minister, we believe Minister Wike could only descend to that level because of his mortal fear of the threat that the successful unveiling of the coalition of opposition political parties constitutes to the government that he serves.
“We observe that if Minister Wike and the government that he serves had kept their promises to the Nigerian people, the coalition movement would not have been necessary, and he would not have had a need to be so jittery.
“If Minister Wike had paid the salaries of primary school teachers who have been on strike for several months and if he had not treated FCT workers with so much contempt, while he goes about commissioning white elephants running into billions of naira, he would not have needed to be afraid of the coalition.”
Abdullahi further said the coalition leaders are upset that Wike ‘’let himself be used by the government to ruin the PDP, once a leading political force in Africa.’’
He stated, “Minister Wike claimed in his media chat that the coalition leaders are driven only by grievances. If we have any grievances, it is the way the government he is a part, has driven the majority of Nigerians into poverty and misery.
“We are aggrieved to see children of the poor unable to get an education because he would not pay their teachers’ salaries. We are aggrieved to watch the growing insecurity in the FCT that he superintends.
“We are aggrieved that Minister Wike has allowed himself to be used by the government he serves to destroy one of the most powerful political parties in Africa, the PDP.
“But it is rather too late in the day to cry. The coalition movement belongs to the Nigerian people who had been promised renewed hope, but have been served renewed hopelessness. Therefore, no amount of tirade against the leaders of the coalition could stem the tide of this popular movement.”
Joining the fray, the All Progressives Congress described the newly adopted platform for the 2027 opposition coalition as “a gathering of deceivers and self-centered individuals driven by personal grudges.”
In a statement on Thursday, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said, “The vaunted opposition coalition platform of choice, the African Democratic Congress, was unveiled yesterday, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, with a gasping whimper, not the roar that its promoters loudly touted.
“However, in reality, it was an unveiling of a coalition of hoaxers and self-obsessed merchants of vendetta, a roll call of Nigeria’s me-or-nothing politicians, who equate their selfish interest with the interest of Nigerians, who cannot bear to be out of the corridors of power and patronage, who are desperate to grab power for themselves by guile and subterfuge, who lay claim to an immoral birthright to power, even while draped in odious record of betrayal of public trust, and rapacious public service.
“Not surprisingly, the speech delivered by Senator David Mark, the alleged National Chairman of ADC, was disgracefully vacant, without substance or purpose, nothing but stitches of untruths, diatribe, and regurgitated and baseless allegations against the APC-led administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Presidency slams coalition
The Presidency on Thursday said the ADC had no semblance of the 2013 merger that birthed the All Progressives Congress.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, asserted this in his latest post on his verified X handle (@SundayDareSD) on Thursday.
He wrote, “Heads up for Nigerians about ADC — There is no injustice to redress — only avaricious ambition to satisfy.”
He added that unlike the APC’s emergence in 2013, the new coalition was not driven by national interest, saying the ADC is being led by “a serial election loser, clutching at what he clearly sees as his last shot at the presidency.”
“Unlike Tinubu, he enters the coalition alone — without the backing of his state governor, his region, or any meaningful political structure. His ambition is personal, not patriotic. So also that of his many co-travellers,” Dare wrote.
He compared the ADC’s founding to the APC’s, saying the 2013 merger that produced the latter was built on strategic discipline and collective sacrifice.
“In 2013, the merger that birthed the APC was driven by selflessness, national interest, and strategic discipline.
“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, despite commanding the loyalty of several sitting governors, chose to wait. Punch
