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Coalition: Crisis Rocks As ADC Chieftain Alleges Plot To Impose Candidates By Godfathers, Cautions Mark
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is being torn apart following allegations by a prominent chieftain, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, who accused the party’s interim leadership of godfatherism and plots to impose candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and ex-Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), made the allegation in a statement titled “ADC and the Prospect of Internal Democracy” released on Tuesday.
The ADC, recently repositioned as a third force, was adopted by a coalition of key opposition leaders—including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; ex-governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); and other political heavyweights—as a common platform to challenge the ruling APC in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
As part of the merger arrangement, the party appointed former Senate President David Mark as interim national chairman and former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola as interim national secretary.
But Lukman warned that unless urgent steps are taken to guarantee internal democracy, the ADC risks becoming a mirror image of the old parties it seeks to replace.
“The truth is that the negative side of almost all our opposition political leaders is already at play,” Lukman said.
“Many are taking steps to manipulate the process of leadership reformation of the ADC. Loyalists are being promoted in a manner that suggests perhaps the 2027 elections are already won.”
He said the zoning formula for national leadership positions, which was intended to ensure inclusiveness, had been undermined by powerful coalition members who have now positioned themselves as zonal overlords.
“When the national leadership positions of ADC were shared among zones, the coalition leaders—who were merely nominees in the committee that negotiated the arrangement—promoted themselves to become the leaders of their respective zones,” he said.
Lukman expressed concern that this emerging trend could lead to the imposition of candidates at all levels, ignoring competence, public trust, and democratic values.
“The struggle to ensure that loyalists of leaders emerge as leaders of the reformed ADC to some extent disregards the consideration for intellectual capacity, integrity, performance track records, name recognition across all demographics, respect in community and political circles, independent-mindedness, and general acceptability to all or the majority of stakeholders,” Lukman stated.
“We must caution our leaders—Nigerians will not be deceived by any cosmetic design of presenting another party, which is only a duplicated copy of our old parties.”
He challenged the interim leadership under Senator Mark to prove its credibility by resisting undue influence and ensuring a transparent and merit-based internal selection process.
“The first test of Senator Mark’s leadership of the party is the extent to which he can mitigate all these and ensure that ADC is not a party controlled by godfathers. Coalition leaders must not impose surrogates as candidates across the board,” he said.
Many people are feared to have lost their lives as a military aircraft with tail number NGR 931, en route Lagos from Benin, crashed in the Igbokoda axis of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State on Monday.
The Ondo State Police Command Spokesperson, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Akure, noted that details surrounding the incident are still emerging, as efforts to establish the full circumstances continue.
Jimoh said: “The Command urges members of the public, particularly residents of Igbokoda and adjoining communities, to remain calm and refrain from circulating unverified information.”
He stated further that the public will be duly informed as soon as further credible information is available.
Also, a statement by the Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, said that all efforts to raise the aircraft on radio proved abortive.
According to him, the wreckage has been located, and search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Preliminary information suggests that there were 25 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
“Whilst the control and regulation of military aircraft are completely outside the authority of the Ministry of Aviation, and Civil Aviation Authority, I have just spoken to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke and pledged our total cooperation and assistance in the search and rescue efforts ongoing”, Keyamo added.
The identity of the helicopter and the persons on board are yet to be ascertained as of the time of this report.
The Olubosin of Ifetedo in Ife South Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Akinola Oyetade Akinrera (Latiiri I), has reportedly joined his ancestors.
Oba Akinrera, the fourth Olubosin of Ifetedo Kingdom, reportedly died on Friday, although the palace has yet to issue an official statement confirming his death.
The monarch ascended the throne in 2018 and was widely regarded by indigenes as a highly respected traditional ruler.
Before his emergence as monarch, Oba Akinrera, a lawyer and public servant, had worked in different capacities, including as a teacher, police officer and staff member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1988 and served until 1992, when he joined the NNPC in Lagos.
Born into the Ifetedo community, the late monarch attended CAC Primary School, Ipetumodu, before proceeding to Ifetedo Grammar School for his secondary education.
He later attended the Oyo State College of Education, which subsequently became the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, and is now the University of Ilesa.
In 1993, he proceeded to Lagos State University, Ojo, where he obtained a Diploma in Law. He subsequently gained admission to the University of Lagos in 1997 to study Law and graduated in 2004.
Following his reported death, tributes have continued to pour in from indigenes and residents of Ifetedo, with social media platforms awash with condolence messages mourning the monarch.
Many of the messages described Oba Akinrera as a respected traditional ruler whose reign contributed to the development and unity of Ifetedo Kingdom.
As of the time of filing this report, the palace had not officially announced the monarch’s death or released details regarding his burial arrangements.
The Imo State Police Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, has revealed that security operatives have identified the location where 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in the state are being held.
This comes two days after gunmen abducted prospective corps members travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The victims were travelling in two buses when the attackers struck along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday.
Naija News reports that Bosso, while giving an update on the search-and-rescue operation in a media interview on Saturday, said security operatives have delayed moving into the camp over fears that it is planted with improvised explosive devices.
Bosso said the police used drones on Friday to locate the suspected camp after security operatives trailed the abductors into the bush, but the security agencies were being cautious because intelligence indicated that the camp had been mined with IEDs.
According to him, the security agencies were preparing to move into the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, in an effort to rescue the victims safely.
He said, “Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush, we trailed them up to a particular location.
“But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinate showed us where they are because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the IED is the camp is mined with IEDs.
“We are moving in there with high, you know, high-velocity vehicles, that is, bulldozers, we’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt.”
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