The atmosphere at the Rainbow Event Centre, Garki, Abuja, was truly surreal. Inside the event hall were gathered some of Nigeria’s greatest names of this political era, now in opposition, sweating it out to hold the convention of their commonly adopted party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Among others, the names include Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, David Mark, a former senate president, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, a former governor and defence minister, Peter Obi, a former governor and presidential candidate in the last election, Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor and minister, Aminu Tambuwal, a former governor and speaker of the House of Representatives, and Buba Galadima, a celebrated gadfly perennially a thorn in the side of those in authority.
All the delegates to the ADC convention were sweating in that hall because the air conditioning had been deliberately turned off by the event centre’s owner, who had gone AWOL. The event centre’s owner had been under pressure to stymie the convention, but met a brick wall from the organisers. These kinds of shenanigans were what the ADC had to contend with on their route to the convention. All their efforts to locate a suitable convention venue were thwarted. The best venue, the Eagles Square, where the APC had its recent convention, was not available to the ADC.
They tried for the second-best option, the Velodrome at the Mashood Abiola National Stadium, but it was denied to them as well. As word of their predicament spread, even major hotels kept their distance from them. But the ADC was adamant in its pursuit and ultimately secured an agreement with the Rainbow Event Centre to hold the convention there.
Unknown to ADC, the event centre reportedly came under intense pressure to renege on its agreement with them, with the threat that its operating licence might be revoked. When the ADC refused to budge, the event centre management resorted to arm-twisting tactics such as turning off the air conditioning. The convention went ahead under those unwholesome conditions.
But why were all these political grandees so desperate to hold the convention at all costs? Besides the urgency to meet certain legal requirements, the event, I surmised, was meant to underscore the fact that the opposition will continue to thrive. Most of the politicians sitting in the front row at the convention, furiously fanning themselves, came to the ADC party as the last bus stop, to find the vehicle to ferry them to the 2027 elections. They have abandoned their erstwhile parties, which had been run aground by a combination of factors, chiefly, as alleged, by state agents hell-bent on imposing a one-party state in the country.
Readers would already be aware of what befell the PDP, once the party in government. Since 2015, when it lost the presidential election, it had tottered from crisis to crisis until the final debacle before the 2023 election, which shattered any hope of a turnaround for the party. That was when Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor, took control of the party and delivered it lock, stock and barrel to the rival APC – all at the altar of the realisation of a southern president, which the PDP had denied.
When the APC won the election, and Wike was compensated with the post of FCT Minister, he remained within the PDP to deliver the final killer punch. Now, the party is lying in a state of distress, with a future riddled with court cases. Within the timeframe of the 2027 elections, the PDP might not even have candidates. This partly explains why most of the party’s elected officials are leaving in droves to seek sanctuary and fulfilment elsewhere. Wike’s acolytes are now settled firmly in the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the PDP, where they are holding the fort.
Similarly, the Labour Party (LP) has only experienced turbulence since the 2023 elections. Its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was the surprise of the time. He trounced Tinubu in Lagos and Osun States and made serious inroads into the north by winning in the FCT, Nasarawa, and Plateau states, besides securing a majority of the votes in his comfort zones of the south-east and south-south.
Since then, the LP has never known peace, going from one lawsuit to another. Peter Obi finally withdrew to seek solace in the ADC. As for the NNPP, even though it did not have much of a national spread, its leader, Kwankwaso, has a cult following in Kano, the state with the largest voting population. The party also suffered internal dissents and debilitating lawsuits until Kwankwaso decided to call it quits.
Now, when all is done, and the line is drawn for the battles ahead, all seemed quiet until one of the presidential aspirants, Atiku Abubakar, decided to go on the offensive in that Arise TV interview where he was critical of President Tinubu’s policies. While the president’s aides were quibbling with some tepid replies, President Tinubu came out fighting when he met with members of the Renewed Hope Agenda in Abuja on Thursday. He reminded one of the leaders of the ADC, obviously Atiku Abubakar, of the failures he committed in handling the privatisation of some national assets as vice-president.
The campaign has just started, and from my perspective, exciting days are ahead.