By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
Editor’s note: Dr. Ebuka Onyekwelu takes a long look at the Nigerian coalition opposition party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and its recent ordeal, forcing the country’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to discontinue recognition of the party till outstanding cases are resolved. Dr. Onyekwelu argued that, perhaps, the ADC needs to look inwards.
In a general sense, Nigerians are easy to impress, and this makes the job of the opposition a lot easier, especially where there are visible governance challenges. Nigerians hardly ask questions that point to a more fundamental underlying problem. Everyone simply resorts to blaming the system. In perspective, it is a lot easier to simply blame the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the present crisis within the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The claim that the APC is after the ADC is an easy claim that requires no imagination at all. Many Nigerians often hold strong opinions without thinking them through. Yet, the irony is that they are still unable to resolve a difficulty they had anticipated. For instance, the ADC is now claiming that it had expected the APC to come hard on it because it poses a real threat to APC’s hold on power. Again, this requires no imagination. Smooth words. Easy sell. But, in real terms, this is a failure of strategic planning and execution on the part of ADC, yet it is all still convenient to blame APC.
Indeed, while such moves by ruling political parties to instigate a crisis within a viable opposition party are common in African democracies, it is usually the opposition that gives itself away. The other concern is the suspicion that INEC has become an interested party in a case it should be overseeing without being partisan. But, responding, the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, has dismissed the claim, insisting that they relied on a court order to take a position. Citing the case in Zamfara, the INEC Chairman said they do not intend to conduct an election without heeding what he called “this early warning.” However, here is what I find most intriguing in the ongoing debate about the innocence of ADC, following the de-recognition of its leadership by the INEC.
Apparently, in response to the position of the INEC’s Chairman, the founding National Chairman of the ADC, Chief Ralph Nwosu, was reported to have said that he was approached and offered an inducement by the APC to sabotage David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola’s leadership, but, according to him, he declined. However, the offer, he revealed, was extended to Nafiu Bala, and he accepted. “I was offered a very big money by members of APC to sabotage the emergence of the David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola leadership in the party, but I turned it down out of a commitment of my legacy and belief in democratic institution building. Before my former ADC Deputy National Chairman Nafiu Bala was compromised by this same evil doers from APC seeking a one party system to challenge the David Mark leadership in court. Bala had personally travelled across the Northwest and Northeast to persuade opposition leaders to adopt the ADC as their coalition platform ahead of 2027,” Chief Ralph Nwosu said. In effect, he alluded that the ADC leadership is incorruptible and above inducement, if not that the APC managed to finally convince or confuse Nafiu Bala, which, according to this narrative, is an isolated case. This line of thought is familiar and reflects how some Nigerians deify many known failed political leaders at various levels in this country as their new political heroes. In fairness, let us examine the claims of the ADC founder with public information about the inducement of the ADC leadership in the past.
On June 13, 2022, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, who, until then, was ADC’s presidential aspirant, wrote a letter of resignation from the ADC. The letter addressed to Chief Ralph Nwosu was entitled, “My resignation from ADC.” This is what the second paragraph of the letter said as to why the resignation was with “immediate effect.” “I have resigned because the process and conduct of the party’s presidential primary on June 8, 2022, at Abeokuta revealed a fundamental clash of values between your leadership of the party and me.” Professor Moghalu went on to narrate how the party leadership had agreed to provide accommodation and transportation for delegates, for which aspirants, including him, made donations. However, he regretted that this organized and seamless process was deliberately scuttled by the party’s leadership. “This failure,” Moghalu said, “which was intentional, created room for massive abuses…including delegate capture and financial inducement of delegates. This is only one of numerous inconsistencies and the absence of transparency and predictability in the management of the party that I had progressively complained about.”
In the letter, Professor Moghalu mentioned “inducement” or “cash and carry” more than a handful of times, and it was a direct dent on the ADC leadership. However, today, the same ADC leadership is trying to blame APC for its internal problems or regard an alleged inducement of its leader, Mr. Bala as an isolated case. As usual, many Nigerians are not asking questions, and that is tragic. ADC is not a victim. It is a part of the complex web of Nigeria’s political crisis. The party and its current itinerant members are only pretending to love Nigerians more, just as the APC and the PDP once did.
