Coalition Suffers Setback As Peter Obi Leaves ADC Over ‘Internal Battles, Division’
By Olumuyiwa Olumuyiwa
From all indications, the coalition formed among prominent politicians to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu has started coming apart at the seams.
This is as Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023 and one of the disparate but powerful strands forming the coalition movement confirmed his exit from the African Democratic Congress (ADC)
The ex-Anambra governor announced his defection from the ADC in a statement issued on Sunday.
He identified “endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division” among other issues bedeviling the party as the reasons for his decision.
“Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me. I will continue to respect them,” he wrote on his X page.
“However, the same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems and playing politics built more on control and exclusion than on service and nation-building.
“Even within spaces where one labours sincerely, one is sometimes treated like an outsider in one’s own home. You and your team become easy targets for every failure, frustration, or misunderstanding, as though honest contribution has become a favour being tolerated rather than appreciated.
“And when you choose to leave so that those you are leaving can have peace, and you step out into the cold, you are still maligned and your character is questioned. Despite all your efforts to continue working for a better Nigeria and engaging people with sincerity and goodwill, those who do not wish you well continue to attack your character and question your intentions.
“There are moments I ask God in prayer: Why is doing the right thing often misconstrued as wrongdoing in our country? Why is integrity not valued? Why is the prudent management of resources, especially when invested in critical areas like education and healthcare, wrongly labelled as stinginess? Why are humility and obedience to the rule of law often taken to be weakness rather than discipline?”
Obi added that he is eager to see a Nigeria that works for its citizens, reiterating that he is not desperate to be president, vice-president, or senate president.
“I am desperate to see a society that can console a mother whose child has been kidnapped or killed while going to school or work,” he said.
“I am desperate to see a Nigeria where people will not live in IDP camps but in their homes. I am desperate for a country where Nigerian citizens do not go to bed hungry, not knowing where their next meal will come from.”
Recall that Buba Galadima, a political associate of former Kano governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, had on Saturday stated categorically that Obi and the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) will leave ADC on Monday.
With this development, Kwankwaso may soon dump the ADC to join Obi on their next political camp.
