Rewind: In 2018, Obasanjo-led coalition adopted ADC, but collapsed before election

Obasanjo

In May 2018, a coalition movement initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its political platform to challenge then-President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.

The Obasanjo-led movement — Coalition of Nigeria Movement (CNM) — unveiled ADC as an anti-Buhari political party during a press conference on May 10, 2018.

The press conference was attended by Obasanjo, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, co-convener of the movement and a former governor of Osun state, and other political stakeholders.

Obasanjo had proposed the CNM as a non-partisan platform that would “redeem” Nigeria from the “lice of poor performance” of the Buhari-led administration.

He said the movement adopted ADC to bring about “desirable change in the Nigerian polity and governance”.

The former president stated that ADC was not based on the “past and condemnable records of PDP” and the “disastrous performance of APC”.

“Let me start by welcoming and commending the emergence of a renewed and reinvigorated African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a political party,” the former president had said.

“Since the inception of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), many of the sixty-eight registered political parties had contacted and consulted with the movement on coming together and working together.

“The leadership of the movement, after detailed examination, wide consultation and bearing in mind the orientation, policies and direction of the movement, have agreed to adopt ADC as its platform to work with others for bringing about desirable change in the Nigerian polity and governance.”