The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that key members of its party are set to defect to the ruling party, describing the statement as a sign of desperation and political decay.
In a statement released on Sunday, October 19, by ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party reacted to comments made by APC National Chairman, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, who reportedly told stakeholders in Jos that “key ADC figures” would be received into the APC next week.
Abdullahi said the claim reflected “a deep realisation by the ruling party that it cannot be saved even if all the governors in Nigeria defected to the ruling party.”
He continued, “This is why even with all the governors and senators they have been bragging about, the APC is still desperate for ADC members.”
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The ADC spokesman further accused the APC of losing credibility with Nigerians, asserting that “the APC realises that it has become the most hated party in Nigeria, and no amount of defections can save the party from Nigerians whose lives and livelihoods the ruling party has destroyed since it came to power.”
Abdullahi argued that recent defections to the APC were “a gang-up against the people by a ruling elite who have left the people behind in abject poverty and are only interested in self-preservation even as their people wallow in misery.”
He also dismissed the APC’s mention of unnamed defectors as “shadowy references,” asking, “If these individuals are so ‘key’, let the chairman of the hated party mention their names.”
Concluding, the ADC likened the APC’s strategy to the PDP’s past excesses, warning that “the APC will also learn the bitter lesson that real democratic power lies with the people and not a few power merchants.”